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Page  74,  line  25,  read  "lodgings"  in  place  of  "lodging". 

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REMINISCENCES 


OF  AN 
OCTOGENARIAN 

HUNGARIAN  EXILE 


BY 

JULIAN    KUNE 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 


CHICAGO 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  AUTHOR 
1911 


COPYRIGHT  1911 

BY 
JULIAN  KUNE 


INTRODUCTION. 


This  Volume,  which  is  dedicated  to  the  many  kind 
friends  who  advised  me  to  write  and  publish  the  same, 
contains  the  description  of  the  principal  events  of  my 
life,  from  the  time  I  entered  the  Hungarian  army  of 
liberation  in  1848  until  1873,  when  I  resumed  my  busy 
life  on  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade,  which  I  had  in  1869 
temporarily  abandoned. 


CONTENTS. 
PART  I. 


The  Author's   Place  of  Birth I 

The  Magyars   3 

Louis  Kossuth   4 

Kossuth  as  Editor 7 

Kossuth  Demanding  Reforms 10 

Kossuth  in  Vienna 12 

Broken  Promises  15 

Kossuth's  Appeal  17 

Kossuth  With  An  Army  Before  Vienna 20 

Kossuth  Prayer  After  the  Battle  of  Kapolna  (Hun- 
gary's Gettysburg.) 21 

Declaration  of  Independence 23 

Russian  Invasion  24 

The  Storming  of  Buda 25 

Martyrs  of  Hungary 27 

Kossuth's  Farewell  Address 28 

Release  of  Kossuth  in  1851 30 

Kossuth's  Certificates  to  the  Author 31 

Kossuth's  Speeches   33 

PART  II. 

General  Bern 34 

The  Battle  of  Piski , 37 

General  Bern's  Genius 43 

Schumla,  Bulgaria  44 

A  Bedouin  Chief's  Gift 47 

Arrival  in  Aleppo 49 

Massacre  at  Aleppo 5 1 

v 


vi  CONTENTS 

Death  of  General  Bern 52 

Trip  Across  the  Syrian  Desert 54 

City  of  Damascus  ( Sham) 58 

PART  III. 

Alexandria,  Egypt 65 

Arrival  in  England 67 

London 67 

Hartford,  Connecticut 69 

Arrival  in  Chicago 72 

Martin  Koszta  74 

Jonathan  Young  Scammon 75 

William  B.  Ogden 79 

My  Political  Life 81 

The  Decatur  Convention 83 

The  Presidential  Campaign  of  1860 84 

Interesting  Interview  With  Abraham  Lincoln 87 

PART  IV. 

Abraham  Lincoln's  Election 90 

Fort  Sumter  Fired  On 93 

The  Spring  of  1861 93 

Organizing  a  Regiment 94 

Ordered  to  the  Seat  of  War 100 

Election  of  Regimental  Officers 101 

Crossing  the  Missouri  River 102 

Col.  U.  S.  Grant  in  Mexico,  Mo 103 

PART  V. 

The  Twenty- fourth  Illinois  at  Mexico 105 

Leonard  Sweet  and  General  Grant 107 

Gen.  John  C.  Fremont  and  His  Brilliant  Staff 109 

Jessie  Benton  Fremont in 

Recruiting  for  Mounted  Artillery 112 

Horseback  Ride  With  General  Grant 1 13 

Colonel  Ransom  114 

Personal  Explanations    115 


CONTENTS  vii 


PART  VI. 

Joins  the  Board  of  Trade 125 

First  Home  Visit  In  Twenty  Years 129 

Meeting  Artists   131 

Periodical  Visits  To  Budapest 133 

For  the  Seat  of  War 133 

Sedan   139 


PART  VII. 

The  Franco-Prussian  War 144 

From  Sedan  to  Meaux 149 

Arrival  at  Lagni 151 

Walk  to  Ferrieres 153 

Copy  of  Royal  Permit 155 

Buying  a  Horse 157 

The  Siege  of  Paris 158 

Starting  for  Versailles 159 

Arrival  at  Versailles 162 

The  Arrest  of  an  Editor 163 

My  Visit  to  Saint  Cloud 165 

My  Report  to  General  Sheridan 169 

On  a  Foraging  Expedition 169 

Meudon   170 

First  Excursion  to  Bougival 173 

Monte  Christo    174 

King  William's  Arrival  at  Versailles 176 

The  King's  Headquarters  at  Versailles 177 

The  Castle  of  Meudon  Destroyed 177 

The  Playing  of  the  Fountains 178 

My  Meeting  with  Hans  Blum 179 

Peace  Conditions  Discussed 180 

Bombardment  of  Bougival 181 

Meeting  Count  Von  Bismarck 182 

An  Unsuccessful  Sortie 183 

An  Evening  with  Dr.  Bush 186 

Thiers  in  Versailles 187 


viii  CONTENTS 


PART  VIII. 

False  Rumors  Fly  Thick  and  Fast 188 

Friction  at  Versailles 189 

Winter  and  Snow 192 

My  Last  Tour  Around  Paris 193 

Montmorency  and  Enghien 194 

An  Elegant  Supper 196 

Ducrot's  Army  Broken  Up 197 

The  Re-clothing  of  the  German  Army 198 

Hunting  for  Franctirreurs 198 

The  Imperial  Crown  Offered  to  King  William 199 

Celebrating  Christmas 200 


PART  IX. 

The  Bombardment  of  Paris 202 

Peace  Preliminaries 203 

End  of  the  Siege 204 

Social  Life  in  Versailles 204 

War  Correspondents  at  the  Siege  of  Paris 205 

Reflections  on  the  Siege 207 

An  Appeal  to  Chicago 208 

Homeward  Bound  208 

Kriegseinzug  (Triumphal  Entry  Into  Berlin  of  War 

Veterans)    209 

Marienbad  212 

Musical  and  Dramatic  Performance  in  Aid  of  Chi- 
cago  213 

Trip  to  Russia 213 

Fourth  of  July  Celebrated  at  Vienna 215 

World's  Fair  Venture  at  Vienna  in  1873 216 


REMINISCENSES  OF  AN 
OCTOGENARIAN  HUNGARIAN  EXILE 


PART  I. 

The  author  of  these  Reminiscences  is  far  from  flat- 
tering his  amour  propre  in  believing  that  the  incidents 
and  the  people  he  will  describe  in  them  will  create 
more  than  a  slight  ripple  on  the  surface  of  the  over- 
flooded  literature  of  our  age ;  nevertheless  he  will  ven- 
ture to  undertake  the  attempt  in  relating  such  hap- 
penings in  connection  with  distinguished  individuals 
whom  he  either  personally  knew,  or  else  had  abso- 
lutely reliable  information  regarding  their  lives  and 
acts. 

Without  entering  into  any  biographical  narrative, 
I  will  simply  state  that  my  birthplace  is  a  modest 
and  unpretentious  little  town  called  Belenyes,  which 
is  equivalent  to  the  English  Buffalo,  evidently  because 
many  ages  ago  it  must  have  been  the  abiding  place 
of  the  wild  buffalo.  The  town  is  situated  in  the 
county  of  Bihar,  and  it  cosily  nestles  among  the  foot- 
hills of  the  lesser  Carpathian  Mountains  that  divide 
Hungary  from  Transylvania,  or  Siebenburgen  in  Ger- 
man, and  Erdely  Orszag  in  Hungarian. 

As  it  would  not  be  of  any  particular  interest  to 
1 


2  REMINISCENCES 

the  readers  of  these  sketches  to  follow  my  childhood 
or  even  my  adolescence,  before  I  had  reached  the  age 
of  seventeen,  when  I  entered  fresh  from  College,  in 
1848,  the  army  of  the  Hungarian  Revolution,  I  will 
pass  it,  and  will  merely  state  that  my  first  experience 
in  that  war,  in  the  early  days  of  1848,  was  in  the  so- 
called  Banat,  the  most  fertile  section  of  Hungary, 
where  the  Serbs  or  Servians,  predominating,  at  the  in- 
stigation of  the  Austrian  Government,  rose  in  insur- 
rection against  the  newly  formed  constitutional  Gov- 
ernment of  Hungary. 

Without  entering  into  the  details  of  one  of 
the  greatest  struggles  for  independence,  Hungary 
although  not  having  yet  attained  the  apex  of  its  aspi- 
rations— namely,  an  Independent  Republic — is  today 
nevertheless  a  country  governed  by  a  constitution 
called  the  Golden  Bull  that  antedates  the  English 
Magna  Charta,  and  which  was  granted  to  it  over  one 
thousand  years  ago. 

It  stands  to  reason,  being  a  native  of  Hungary, 
that  my  first  sketches  must  necessarily  be  of  Hungarian 
men  and  characters  with  whom  the  writer  came  in 
contact,  and  in  order  that  the  readers  of  these  sketches 
may  have  an  intelligent  conception  of  the  characters 
and  incidents  described,  it  will  be  necessary  to  give  a 
short  and  cursory  description  of  Hungary  and  also  of 
the  reputed  origin  of  the  Magyars. 

THE  MAGYARS 

Coming  from  the  regions  about  the  Volga,  they 
crossed  the  Carpathians  in  A.  D.  889,  under  the  lead 
of  Duke  Almos.  The  seven  tribes  of  which  the  nation 


THE    MAGYABS  3 

then  consisted  subsequently  occupied  ancient  Panno- 
nia  under  the  lead  of  Arpad.  For  one  hundred  and 
eleven  years  they  were  governed  by  their  Dukes 
(Vezereck)  until  Duke  Vaik  embraced  Christianity  and 
was  crowned  as  St.  Stephen,  First  Apostolic  King  of 
Hungary,  A.  D.  1000.  Pope  Sylvester  presented  him 
with  the  Iron  Crown  with  which  he  was  crowned,  and 
sent  Bishops  from  Germany  into  Hungary  to  help 
christianize  the  Magyars.  The  language  adopted  to 
assist  in  christianizing  the  Magyars  was  Latin,  of 
which  the  common  people  did  not  understand  a  single 
word. 

The  reign  of  St.  Stephen  (Szent  Istvan)  was  the 
beginning'  of  a  new  era  in  the  lives  of  the  Magyars. 
When  the  seven  tribes  of  the  Magyars  settled  in  Pan- 
nonia  they  were  united  under  a  solemn  compact  guar- 
anteeing justice  and  equality  to  all  alike,  so  that  when 
St.  Stephen  began  to  reign  the  general  feeling  of  the 
nation  was  faithfully  to  adhere  to  that  solemn  com- 
pact, and  they  at  first  refused  to  obey  the  mandates  of 
the  newly  introduced  clergy,  with  the  result  of  many 
bloody  religious  wars  and  massacres.  As  they  were 
still  untutored  in  the  arts  of  industry  and  civilization, 
St.  Stephen  imported  various  artisans  from  Germany. 
Having  led  a  nomadic  life,  they  considered  the  working 
of  the  soil  as  menial  and  below  the  dignity  of  a  Mag- 
yar. St.  Stephen  further  subdivided  the  country  into 
Counties,  forced  the  people  to  pay  tithes  to  the  clergy, 
and  organized  a  national  council,  the  higher  branch 
being  composed  of  temporal  and  spiritual  lords;  then 
there  was  a  lower  house  of  Nobility,  called  the  sandal 
nobility  (Bocskoros  Nemes  Ember). 


4  BEMINISCENCES 

With  the  death  of  St.  Stephen,  the  native  dynasty 
became  extinct,  and  between  1290  A.  D.  some  kings 
that  were  legitimate  and  other  usurpers  ruled  the 
country  until  1516,  when  the  line  of  the  Hungarian 
Kings  became  suddenly  extinct  with  the  death  of 
Louis  II.,  who  fell  at  the  Battle  of  Mohacs,  fought 
with  the  Turks.  This  battle  is  designated  as  the 
Graveyard  of  Hungarian  Independence. 

Sometimes  nations,  like  individuals,  fail  to  practice 
the  Golden  Rule  as  laid  down  by  the  Nazarene,  and 
thus  the  mistakes  they  commit  change  their  current 
of  life.  The  Magyars,  although  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity during  the  tenth  century,  A.  D.,  instead  of 
following  the  teachings  of  the  Gallilean  Prophet, 
obeyed  the  edicts  of  their  spiritual  advisers,  the  Bish- 
ops and  the  clergy  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  fatal 
mistake  made  by  the  Hungarian  nation  was  when, 
owing  to  the  intermarriage  of  one  of  their  former 
Kings  to  a  member  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg,  they 
transferred  St.  Stephen's  crown  to  that  dynasty. 

The  events  which  transpired  in  Hungary  since  St. 
Stephen's  time  are  matters  of  history,  and  as  it  is  the 
writer's  intention  to  give  brief  sketches  of  men  and 
incidents  which  had  more  or  less  bearing  on  his  life, 
he  has  naturally  selected  as  his  first  subject  the  person 
who  above  all  others  was  instrumental  in  changing 
the  current  of  events  in  his  life.  That  person  is 

KOSSUTH   LAJOS 

Or,  as  he  is  better  known  outside  of  his  own  land, 
Louis  Kossuth,  who  fills  the  highest  niche  in  Hunga- 
rian history,  and  occupies  the  same  position  in  the 


KOSSUTH    LAJOS  5 

estimate  of  his  countrymen  which  has  been  accorded 
to  Washington  and  Abraham  Lincoln  in  American 
history.  His  greatness,  however,  resembled  more 
that  of  Lincoln  than  Washington.  Of  comparatively 
low  origin,  he,  by  virtue  of  his  great  genius  and 
incomparable  oratory,  as  well  as  by  his  self-sacrificing 
industry  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow-countrymen, 
gained  the  highest  pinnacle  of  fame  and  an  everlasting 
place  in  the  affections  of  a  grateful  people.  He,  like 
Lincoln,  manumitted  millions  of  slaves,  serfs  which 
were  but  slaves,  not  by  the  stroke  of  the  pen,  as  Lin- 
coln did,  but  by  the  thunder  of  his  voice,  as  he  fear- 
lessly stood  before  Emperor  Ferdinand,  the  fifth, 
demanding  the  abolishment  of  all  feudal  service 
throughout  the  realm.  It  is  noteworthy  that  this  con- 
cession was  the  only  one  that  was  not  abrogated  sub- 
sequently by  the  Austrian  Imperial  Government.  Thus 
proving  once  more  the  truth  of  the  saying  that  "Revo- 
lutions never  go  backward."  They  may  for  a  time 
deviate  from  their  onward  and  forward  course,  but 
they  are  always  directed  back  to  their  true  course  by 
an  all-wise  and  infinite  Ruler  of  the  Universe.  Thus 
the  five  million  peasants  freed  through  the  influence 
of  Louis  Kossuth  became  and  forever  remained  free. 
Louis  Kossuth  was  born  April  27th,  1802,  in  the 
county  of  Zemplin,  Hungary,  in  the  same  county  where 
400  years  before  the  great  Hunyadi  died.  His  phe- 
nomenal rise  as  an  advocate,  editor,  orator,  statesman, 
and  finally  as  the  governor-president  of  his  country, 
demonstrates  that  neither  country,  race  or  conditions 
can  limit  the  potential  abilities  of  inborn  genius.  Kos- 
suth, although  originally  not  of  the  dominant  Magyar 


6  BEMINISCENCES 

race,  was  singled  out  by  an  all-wise  Providence  to  lead 
his  fellow  countrymen,  as  did  Moses  of  old,  out  from 
bondage.  He  thus  became  the  quickening  spirit,  urg- 
ing on  not  only  the  Magyars  but  all  other  nationalities 
of  his  and  neighboring  countries,  to  throw  off  their 
long  endured  political  slavery. 

While  representing  an  absent  delegate  in  the  upper 
house  of  the  Diet,  he  stenographically  copied  and  cir- 
culated the  daily  proceedings  of  the  Diet,  which  was 
contrary  to  the  arbitrary  code  of  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment. He  kept  this  up  in  spite  of  the  official  warn- 
ings received,  and  was  arrested  May  4th,  1837,  and 
taken  to  prison.  He  was  thus  detained  for  a  whole 
year  before  he  was  granted  a  trial.  The  trial  being 
but  of  the  ordinary  farce  trials,  he  was  sentenced  to 
the  fortress  of  Buda  as  a  prisoner  for  four  years.  Kos- 
suth,  imprisoned,  however,  turned  out  to  be  more 
powerful  than  while  he  was  free,  and  it  so  happened 
that  when  the  Imperial  Government  in  1840  wanted 
Hungary  to  furnish  more  troops  to  the  army,  the  Diet 
flatly  refused  to  furnish  them  unless  the  two  political 
prisoners,  Kossuth  and  Baron  Vesselenyi,  were  liber- 
ated. The  Government  finally  bowed  to  the  inevitable, 
and  set  Kossuth  and  the  blind  baron  free  on  May  15th, 
1840,  after  having  been  incarcerated  for  three  years. 

The  popular  demonstration  during  that  night  of  his 
release  prophetically  indicated  the  coming  great  events 
of  succeeding  years  in  Hungary.  But  the  blind,  des- 
potic power  of  the  Government  could  not,  or  would 
not,  discern  the  political  barometer.  Kossuth  was  es- 
corted through  the  cities  of  Buda  and  Pesth  by  an 
immense  procession  of  torch  bearers.  Shortly  after 


KOSSUTH   AS   AN    EDITOR  7 

this  he  withdrew  from  the  public  to  Parad,  a  mountain 
watering  place,  in  order  to  regain  his  much  impaired 
health,  in  consequence  of  his  cruel  confinement.  On 
his  return  from  the  mountain  resort,  he  married,  Jan- 
uary 10,  1844,  Teresa  Meszlenyi,  a  very  amiable  lady, 
who,  soon  after  his  incarceration  opened  a  correspon- 
dence with  the  martyr  prisoner,  which  soon  ripened 
into  friendship  and  finally  culminated  in  their  mar- 
riage. 

KOSSUTH   AS  AN   EDITOR 

On  January  1st,  1841,  Kossuth  became  the  editor 
of  the  Pesti  Hirlap  (Pesth  Gazette).  This  was  the 
opportunity  he  was  long  waiting  for ;  although  the  lib- 
erty of  the  press  in  the  Austrian  monarchy  was  yet 
unborn,  it  afforded  him,  as  the  editor  of  a  paper,  an 
occasional  chance  to  drive  the  naked  truth  home  into 
the  hardened  consciousness  of  the  oppressor. 

In  1843,  in  order  to  obtain  better  treatment  for  his 
native  land,  Kossuth  inaugurated  a  general  boycott 
on  all  manufactured  goods  coming  from  Austria,  out- 
side of  Hungary.  The  immediate  effect  was  that  in 
order  to  retain  their  Hungarian  trade,  many  of  the 
Austrian  manufacturers  transferred  their  plants  to 
Hungary. 

In  1847  Kossuth  was  brought  forward  as  a  candi- 
date for  the  Diet  from  Pesth,  by  his  friend  Count  Louis 
Batthanyi,  who  afterwards  fell  a  martyr  to  Austrian 
vengeance.  Notwithstanding  the  many  machinations 
of  the  Government  he  was  elected.  The  wild  enthusi- 
asm which  this  election  of  the  modern  Demosthenes 
created  all  over  the  country  beggars  description.  It 
was  likened  by  some  to  the  religious  demonstration 


g  REMINISCENCES 

by  the  followers  of  Peter  the  Hermit  during  the  first 
Crusade.  I  was  attending  college  at  that  time  in  Szar- 
vas,  whose  president  was  the  celebrated  Hungarian 
lexicographer,  Ballaghi  Mor  (Moritz  Bloch).  I  well 
remember  that,  owing  to  the  intense  excitement  pre- 
vailing over  Kossuth's  election,  and  his  heart-stirring 
speeches  in  the  National  Assembly,  the  students  of  our 
college  devoted  more  time  to  the  discussion  of  the 
political  events  of  the  day  than  to  their  studies.  "£1- 
jen  Kossuth"  (long  live  Kossuth)  became  the  battle- 
cry  of  the  throngs  that  nightly  gathered  in  front  of  the 
Casino  to  listen  to  the  patriotic  utterances  of  the  pro- 
fessors and  students.  The  great  patriot  and  "orator 
with  the  flaming  tongue,"  as  he  was  aptly  named,  was 
at  that  time  the  central  sun  of  Magyar  constellation. 
Both  magnate  and  peasant  bowed  before  his  greatness  ; 
the  peasant,  especially,  almost  worshipped  him.  I 
may  be  pardoned  if  I  here  quote  the  very  eloquent 
tribute  which  the  great  editor,  Horace  Greeley,  gave 
to  Louis  Kossuth  in  his  introductory  remarks  to  the 
Life  of  Louis  Kossuth  by  Headley.  He  says:  "A 
voice  from  the  far  Pannonia,  with  the  eloquence  of 
a  Demosthenes  and  the  sublime  fervor  of  an  Isaiah, 
it  utters  burning  words,  which  call  men  from  divers 
creeds  and  races  to  the  battlefield  in  which  the  rights 
of  all  are  to  be  asserted.". 

Kossuth's  entry  into  the  National  Assembly  in  1848 
signalized  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  Hungary's 
history.  By  his  extraordinary  eloquence  he  aroused 
the  dormant  aspirations  of  his  nation  by  inviting  it  to 
reenter  the  glorious  path  which  it  followed  centuries 
ago  and  before  its  absorption  by  Austria. 


KOSSUTH    AS   AN    EDITOR  9 

I  have  often  wondered  at  the  mistaken  ideas  which 
prevailed,  and  still  prevail  to  a  great  extent,  that  the 
Hungarian  war  of  Independence  was  the  outgrowth  of 
the  French  Revolution  of  1848.  On  the  contrary,  the 
many  eloquent  revolutionary  speeches  of  Kossuth 
plainly  presaged  a  violent  political  upheaval  in  Europe. 
It  was  the  French  Chamber  of  Deputies  which  drew 
its  inspiration  from  these  speeches.  The  great  influ- 
ence which  these  fiery  denunciations  exerted  upon  the 
political  world  of  those  days  may  be  inferred  from 
what  a  foe,  and  not  a  friend  of  Kossuth,  said  about 
the  great  orator  and  his  orations.  He  said:  "His 
speeches  were  at  that  time  (1847)  like  burning  arrows, 
which  he  hurled  into  kindred  minds,  thereby  urging 
them  to  a  frantic  enthusiasm.  His  oratory  was  like  a 
large  battery,  with  heavy  pieces  of  ordnance,  whose 
discharge  did  the  most  fearful  execution.  The  poison- 
ous sting  of  his  interpretations,  his  despotic  power  in 
the  house  and  his  intrigues  (?)  out  of  doors,  formed 
in  themselves  a  power,  so  to  say,  of  an  army  against 
the  stand-still  policy  of  Metternich."  Such  was  the 
tribute  accorded  to  Kossuth  by  an  opponent,  but  evi- 
dently a  spellbound  admirer  of  his  unmatched  elo- 
quence and  power. 

During  the  session  of  1847,  the  Diet,  among  others, 
adopted  the  proposition  that  all  the  peasants  of  the 
Kingdom,  of  whatever  race  or  religion,  should  be  at 
once  exempted  from  all  urbarial  dues  and  obligations 
to  their  landlords,  the  latter  to  receive  an  indemnity 
from  the  State.  The  proposition  was  passed,  and  thus 
five  million  serfs  were  made  freemen  by  the  eloquent 


10  BEMINISCENCES 

advocacy  of  Louis  Kossuth,  long  before  the  French 
Revolution  took  place,  in  1848. 

KOSSUTH  DEMANDING  REFORMS 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1848,  or  two  days  after  the 
news  of  the  French  Revolution  reached  Pressburg, 
then  the  capital  of  Hungary,  Kossuth  rose  in  the  Diet 
to  speak  on  a  motion  of  inquiry  on  the  condition  of 
the  National  Bank,  whose  notes  were  refused  both 
in  Hungary  and  Bohemia.  Among  other  things  re- 
ferred to,  he  said:  "The  local  question  in  relation  to 
the  Bank  I  will  not  now  discuss.  It  is  true,  Magyars, 
Austria  has  embarrassed  us  long  enough.  But  this 
is  a  secondary  matter.  What  we  ought  to  ask  for  is 
the  budget  of  the  Hungarian  receipts  and  expenses, 
which  have  hitherto  been  mixed  up  with  those  of  our 
neighbors.  We  ought  to  ask  for  the  constitutional 
administration  of  our  finances.  We  ought  to  ask  for 
a  separate  and  independent  financial  board  for  Hun- 
gary. For,  unless  we  have  this,  the  foreign  Govern- 
ment which  rules  us  without  our  advice,  is  likely  to 
embarrass  our  finances  to  helplessness." 

Then  again  :  "Mighty  thrones,  supported  by  politi- 
cal sagacity  and  power,  have  been  overthrown,  and 
nations  have  fought  and  won  their  liberty,  who  three 
months  ago  could  not  have  dreamed  of  the  proximity 
of  such  an  event.  But  for  three  whole  months  we 
are  compelled  to  roll  the  stone  of  Sisyphus  incessantly 
and  without  avail." 

After  closing  his  speech  with  an  impressive  perora- 
tion, he  moved  an  "address  to  the  throne,"  in  which 


KOSSUTH    DEMANDING    REFORMS  H 

a  series  of  reforms  were  demanded,  which  was  unani- 
mously adopted  by  the  National  Assembly. 

These  events  were  certainly  sufficient  to  arouse  the 
wildest  enthusiasm  all  over  Hungary.  When  the  cop- 
ies of  the  Pesti  Hislap  reached  Szarvas,  where  I  then 
attended  the  Junior  class  of  the  college,  all  classes 
were  dismissed  spontaneously,  and  while  the  faculty 
was  discussing  in  whispers  the  happenings  at  the 
capital,  the  students  celebrated  the  event  with  vocifer- 
ous cries  of  "filjen  Kossuth." 

Among  the  reforms  demanded  in  the  address  to 
the  throne  the  most  prominent  were:  First,  the  abo- 
lition of  serfdom;  second,  the  equalization  of  taxes; 
the  further  development  of  the  representative  system 
of  Government,  and  a  responsible  Ministry.  Kos- 
suth's  design  was  to  demand  these  concessions,  not 
for  Hungary  alone,  but  as  far  as  applicable,  for  all 
the  States  under  the  Government  of  the  Emperor 
of  Austria.  He  possessed  sufficient  statesmanship  to 
know  that  a  constitutional  government  in  Hungary 
alone  could  not  harmonize  with  an  absolute  and  des- 
potic administration  in  the  other  States  of  the  Em- 
pire. He  forcibly  put  himself  on  record  in  the  follow- 
ing: "With  a  Constitutional  Government  secured  in 
Hungary,  it  was  then  the  proper  and  holy  mission 
of  our  nation,  as  the  oldest  member  of  the  Empire, 
to  raise  its  voice  in  behalf  of  those  sister  nations  under 
the  same  ruler,  and  who  are  united  to  us  by  so  many 
ties  of  relationship.  Lovers  of  Freedom,  we  would 
not  ask  liberty  for  ourselves  alone.  We  would  not 
boast  of  privileges  that  others  did  not  enjoy.  A  Con- 
stitutional and  despotic  crown  could  not  be  worn  by 


12  BEMINISCENCES 

the  same  head,  any  more  than  two  opposing  disposi- 
tions can  harmonize  in  the  same  breast  at  the  same 
time." 

Kossuth  at  that  time  did  not  contemplate  the  sepa- 
ration of  Hungary  from  Austria.  His  aim  was  to 
remind  Emperor  Ferdinand  of  the  sacredness  of  the 
oath  he  took  as  the  Constitutional  King  of  Hungary. 

Kossuth,  in  moving  the  above  reforms,  was  far 
ahead  of  the  conservative  upper  house  of  the  Diet. 
The  many  years  of  Austrian  tutelage  had  reduced 
the  life  members  of  that  body,  composed  as  it  was  of 
the  high  nobility  of  the  realm  and  the  Roman  Catholic 
Bishops,  to  mere  automatons  of  the  Austrian  Cama- 
rilla. They  were  horrified  at  the  boldness  of  Kos- 
suth's  propositions  and  demands. 

KOSSUTH    IN    VIENNA 

While  the  Delegates  at  Pressburg  were  pondering 
over  the  recently  parsed  reform  demands,  the  revolu- 
tion in  Vienna  broke  out.  The  news  of  this  outbreak 
reached  Pressburg  while  the  Diet  was  in  session.  It 
created  a  great  surprise,  except  to  Kossuth,  who  ex- 
pected it.  The  Aula,  composed  of  the  students  of  the 
Vienna  University  and  the  intellectual  portion  of 
Vienna's  population,  formulated  and  submitted  their 
demands  to  the  Emperor,  who,  overawed  by  fear, 
granted  everything  demanded  of  him.  The  revolu- 
tionary spirit  had  also  permeated  the  soldiers  of  the 
Vienna  garrison,  who  refused  to  fire  at  the  assembled 
multitudes,  who  were  ordered  to  disperse  by  the  reac- 
tionary Ministry.  Metternich's  dismissal  was  asked 


KOSSUTH    IN    VIENNA  13 

for  and  speedily  granted.     The  liberty  of  the  press 
was  also  granted,  and  so  was  trial  by  jury. 

While  the  delegates  in  the  Diet  had  hardly  recov- 
ered from  their  amazement  over  the  Vienna  news, 
Kossuth  arose  and  calmly  asked  the  Diet  to  send  a 
deputation  to  the  Emperor  at  Vienna,  demanding  an 
immediate  dissolution  of  the  Chancellery  and  the  sub- 
stitution of  a  responsible  cabinet  in  its  place,  as  guar- 
anteed by  the  Constitution  of  the  land.  He  closed  his 
speech  with  the  following  inspiring  words:  "For  600 
years,  Magyars,  we  formed  a  Constitutional  State.  We 
will,  therefore,  that  from  this  moment  on  Ministers 
shall  again  sit  upon  these  benches,  to  hear  and  answer 
our  questions;"  with  a  graceful  sweep  of  his  arms 
he  pointed  to  the  ministerial  seats,  which  had  been 
vacant  for  many  years.  "From  this  day  on  we  wish 
to  have  a  Hungarian  ministry."  The  response  was  a 
unanimous  affirmative  vote.  The  committee  was  ap- 
pointed, with  Kossuth  at  its  head.  The  committee 
appeared  at  Vienna  on  March  13s  1848.  The  Vienna 
people  hailed  it  with  great  rejoicing.  In  their  un- 
bounded enthusiasm  they  carried  Kossuth  on  their 
shoulders  to  the  palace.  There  he  met  face  to  face 
the  Emperor  by  whose  orders  he  had  been  incarcer- 
ated only  a  few  years  before.  Calmly,  and  conscious 
of  his  power  to  destroy  the  tottering  throne  of  the 
Hapsburg  dynasty,  he  laid  the  demands  before  the 
Emperor.  The  courtiers,  in  their  rich  dress  uniforms, 
that  were  covered  by  glistening  decorations,  were 
relegated  to  the  rear,  while  two  figures  stood  in  the 
foreground  of  this  most  remarkable  scene,  worthy  of 
the  brush  of  a  Titian.  The  one,  Kossuth,  the  whilom 


14  BEMINISCENCES 

prisoner  of  Buda,  representing  millions  of  his  country- 
men, demanding  their  God-given  rights,  and  the  other, 
Ferdinand  V,  Emperor  of  Austria,  a  representative 
of  the  exploded  theory  of  despotic  Government  by 
"divine  right."  For  a  minute  the  trembling  Emperor 
hesitated,  but  as  the  deafening  demonstrations  of  the 
assembled  multitudes  in  the  streets  below  reached 
his  ears,  and  as  he  saw  Kossuth  suggestively  point  his 
finger  at  the  open  window,  he  yielded,  and  granted 
everything  that  was  demanded. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  writer  thought  that 
Kossuth  committed  a  fatal  mistake,  when,  holding  the 
destiny  of  the  Hapsburg  dynasty  in  the  hollow  of  his 
hand,  he  did  not  then  and  there  destroy  the  pernicious 
and  oath-breaking  tyranny,  for  he  certainly  had  it  in 
his  power  to  do  so  during  the  scene  above  referred 
to.  But  an  experience  gained  through  a  tempest- 
tossed  life  brought  to  me  the  absolute  conviction  that 
the  teachings  of  the  Bible,  which  says:  "Vengeance 
is  mine,"  is  after  all  preferable  to  being  our  own 
avenger,  for  in  the  end,  evil,  no  matter  of  what  nature, 
destroys  itself. 

As  a  result  of  that  interview,  a  Hungarian  Ministry 
was  named,  with  Louis  Bathanyi  as  Prime  Minister 
and  Louis  Kossuth  as  Minister  of  Finance.  Among 
others  who  held  portfolios  in  this  Ministry  were  Deak, 
Szemere,  Meszaros,  Klauzel,  Count  Sechenyi,  Baron 
Oetves,  and  Prince  Esterhazy,  all  very  eminent  repre- 
sentative men.  The  recital  of  the  succeeding  events 
to  the  establishment  of  a  Constitutional  Government 
in  Hungary  belongs  to  the  historian.  Only  such  inci- 


BEOKEN    PROMISES  15 

dents  with  which  Kossuth  is  principally  connected  will 
be  referred  to. 

BROKEN    PROMISES 

Not  of  the  Machiavelian  type  of  statesmanship, 
Kossuth,  fully  trusting  the  Emperor's  oath-bound 
promises,  devoted  his  whole  time  to  the  task  of  dis- 
entangling the  finances  of  his  country.  While  he  was 
devoting  his  energies  to  building  up  the  National 
credit,  the  conspirators  surrounding  the  Austrian 
throne  were  at  work,  undermining  the  Constitutional 
rights  granted  recently  to  his  country.  The  fact  is, 
that  the  intrigues  were  hatched  only  a  few  minutes 
after  the  Emperor  granted  the  Hungarian  deputation 
its  demands.  The  first  open  sign  of  Hapsburg 
treachery  manifested  itself  on  June  1st,  1848,  when 
the  Servians  inhabiting  the  Banat  and  Bacska,  in  the 
Southeastern  part  of  Hungary,  rose  in  insurrection 
against  the  newly  organized  Constitutional  Govern- 
ment. The  Croatians,  a  race  occupying  the  territory 
which  is  an  integral  part  of  the  Kingdom  of  Hungary, 
also  rose  in  rebellion.  They  were  persuaded  to  be- 
lieve that  the  Magyars,  the  dominant  race  of  the  King- 
dom so  far  as  numbers  were  concerned,  wished  to 
withhold  from  them,  as  well  as  from  all  other  races, 
the  privileges  and  rights  recently  exacted  from  the 
Central  Government,  and  that  the  Magyars  would 
take  away  from  them  their  own,  the  Croatian, 
language.  Of  course  all  this  was  false,  but  an  old 
law  of  1832  was  cited,  which  made  the  Magyar  tongue 
the  official  tongue  of  the  Hungarian  Kingdom.  This 
law  was  passed  in  order  to  replace  the  Latin  language, 


1C  BEMINISCENCES 

which  for  centuries  had  kept  the  masses  of  the  people 
in  ignorance,  because  a  comparatively  small  propor- 
tion of  the  people  were  conversant  with  Latin.  It  is 
a  well  established  truism  that  ignorance  is  an  ever- 
ready  handmaid  of  a  despotic  Government. 

This  double  dealing  on  the  part  of  the  Emperor 
and  his  surrounding  satellites  aroused  the  ire  of  all 
right  thinking  denizens  of  the  country,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  above  mentioned  Croatians  and  Ser- 
vians. A  Colonel  of  a  Croatian  regiment  (a  great 
favorite  of  the  Camarilla,  at  whose  head  stood  the 
Archduchess  Sophia,  mother  of  the  present  Emperor) 
Baron  Joseph  Jellaschich,  was  appointed  Ban  (Gov- 
ernor) of  Croatia,  with  instructions  and  authority  to 
lead  the  revolt  in  Croatia. 

The  struggle  with  the  insurrectionary  Servians  had 
now  begun  in  dead  earnest.  The  various  seats  of 
learning  had  closed  several  weeks  before  the  usual 
time  for  the  year's  vacation.  The  students  were 
hurriedly  flocking  to  their  respective  homes,  in  com- 
pliance with  a  call  from  their  respective  cities  and 
counties.  At  the  suggestion  of  Kossuth,  Onkenytes 
(Volunteer)  battalions  were  formed,  in  order  to  stern 
the  Servian  revolt.  The  writer  and  his  elder  brother 
were  among  those  who  entered  the  ranks.  During 
the  three  months  spent  in  the  Banat,  fighting  the 
Servians,  there  were  no  great  engagements.  The 
fighting  was  more  of  a  desultory  nature,  more  like 
the  fighting  of  the  Missouri  Bushwhackers  during  our 
Civil  War.  The  atrocities  committed  by  the  insurgent 
Servians  were  of  such  a  revolting  and  barbaric  nature 


KOSSUTH'S  APPEAL  17 

that  the  writer's  pen  is  reluctant  to  write  them  down ; 
therefore  it  is  best  to  leave  them  unrecorded. 

KOSSUTH'S  APPEAL  TO  PARLIAMENT  FOR  200,000  MEN 

Kossuth's  handicap  in  his  course  as  a  statesman 
was  his  over-tender  heart  and  a  never-doubting  dispo- 
sition in  the  sincerity  of  those  he  had  dealings  with. 
Being  himself  actuated  by  the  sole  desire  to  do  all 
for  the  benefit  of  his  fellowmen,  he  put  implicit  confi- 
dence in  the  sincerity  of  the  Emperor's  promises.  He 
once  more  addressed  a  petition  to  the  Emperor,  pray- 
ing that  he  should  repudiate  the  recently  committed 
illegal  acts  of  the  Ban  of  Croatia.  Fearing  the  dis- 
pleasure of  the  Hungarian  Nation,  while  his  army  in 
Italy  was  meeting  with  reverses,  Ferdinand  hypocriti- 
cally expressed  his  indignation  at  these  acts,  ordering 
the  Ban  to  appear  at  once  before  him,  and  in  a  royal 
manifesto  he  branded  him  a  traitor  to  his  country. 
The  duplicity  and  double  dealing  of  the  Austrian  Court 
was,  however,  soon  revealed  by  the  supplies  furnished 
to  the  insurgent  Ban,  both  in  money  and  arms.  Kos- 
suth,  unable  to  restrain  his  indignation  any  longer  at 
this  double  dealing,  used  his  powerful  oratory  during 
the  session  of  the  Diet  in  July,  1848,  to  great  advan- 
tage. While  he  still  refrained  from  calling  the  Em- 
peror a  traitor,  his  burning  words  indicated  the  com- 
ing storm.  In  one  of  his  great  speeches  before  the 
Diet,  on  July  llth,  1848,  he  said:  "In  ascending  the 
tribune  to  demand  of  you  to  save  our  country,  the 
greatness  of  the  moment  weighs  oppressively  over  my 
soul.  I  feel  as  if  God  had  placed  into  my  hands  the 
trumpets  to  arouse  the  dead,  that,  if  still  sinners  and 


18  BEMINISCENCES 

weak,  they  may  relapse  into  death,  but  that  they  may 
awake  for  eternity,  if  any  vigor  or  life  be  yet  in  them. 
Thus,  at  this  moment,  stands  the  fate  of  the  nation. 
Gentlemen,  with  the  decision  of  my  motion  God  has  certi- 
fied to  your  hands  the  decision  affecting  the  life  or 
death  of  our  people. — That  nation  alone  will  live  which 
in  itself  has  vital  powers.  That  which  knows  not  how 
to  save  itself  by  its  own  strength,  but  only  by  the 
aid  of  others,  has  no  future." 

In  urging  the  Diet  to  adopt  his  resolution  creating 
an  army  of  200,000  men,  he  continued:  "This  day 
we  are  Ministers;  tomorrow  others  may  take  our 
place.  No  matter, — the  Cabinet  may  change,  but  thou, 

0  my  country,  must  forever  remain.     I  declare  sol- 
emnly  and   expressly   that  I   demand  of  the  House 
200,000  soldiers  and  the  necessary  pecuniary  grants. 
This  is  my  request.    You  have  all  risen,  to  a  man,  and 

1  bow  before  the  National  greatness.    If  your  energy 
equals  your  patriotism,  I  will  make  bold  to  say  that 
even  the  gates  of  Hell  shall  not  prevail  against  Hun- 
gary." 

Before  the  last  sentence  was  finished,  the  four 
hundred  representatives,  with  one  voice,  repeated  the 
words  of  Paul  Nyary,  "Megadyug"  (We  will  give  it). 

It  may  be  opportune  to  repeat  here  the  criticism  of 
one  who  frequently  heard  Kossuth  speak:  "His  speeches 
combine  the  Arabian  fervor  of  Mohammed  and  the 
religious  earnestness  of  Cromwell."  While  this  criticism 
may  show  the  mental  power  which  Kossuth's  speeches 
exerted  on  his  listeners,  it  fails  to  do  justice  to  his 
logical  and  convincing  arguments,  employed  to  convert 


AN   INDEFATIGABLE    WORKER  19 

his  listeners  to  his  mode  of  looking  at  the  subject  un- 
der consideration. 

KOSSUTH    AN    INDEFATIGABLE    WORKER 

When  the  time  for  action  had  arrived,  Kossuth,  the 
agitator,  the  silver  tongued  orator,  was  replaced  by 
Kossuth,  the  hard  working  Minister  of  Finance.  As 
a  member  of  the  National  defense,  he  worked  day  and 
night  to  raise  and  equip  the  army  which  he  had  called 
into  existence.  Nor  was  this  an  easy  task,  for  the 
National  Treasury  was  empty,  owing  to  the  misman- 
agement of  the  Metternich  policy  to  tax  the  people 
to  the  utmost  and  spend  the  money  for  the  benefit 
of  the  reigning  house  of  Hapsburg  and  its  satellites. 
Kossuth,  however  overcame  all  difficulties.  His  call 
to  arms  was  responded  to  by  both  young  and  old  rush- 
ing to  rally  around  the  National  banners.  His  activity 
was  limitless.  In  order  to  save  time,  he  often  dictated 
to  his  secretaries  three  letters  in  as  many  different 
languages.  The  established  policy  of  the  Austrian 
Government  having  been  to  keep  all  arsenals  and  pow- 
der mills  out  of  the  reach  of  the  Hungarians,  the  nation 
lacked  both  powder  and  arms.  Kossuth,  with  his  in- 
defatigable energy,  established  factories  and  caused  the 
gathering  of  pyrites  in  the  various  copper  mines  to 
replace  the  lack  of  sulphur,  which  is  necessary  for  the 
manufacture  of  powder. 

It  is  needless  here  to  describe  the  many  battles 
fought,  the  many  victories  gained,  and  the  defeats  suf- 
fered by  the  patriotic  army  of  Honveds.  I  will  merely 
refer  to  those  which  may  have  some  bearing  on  the 
subject  of  the  present  sketch. 


20  BEMINISCENCES 

KOSSUTH  WITH  AN  ARMY  BEFORE  VIENNA 

On  October  24th,  1848,  Kossuth  arrived  at  Paren- 
dorf,  the  rendezvous  of  the  Hungarian  troops  march- 
ing towards  Vienna.  As  he  started  to  speak,  his  in- 
tense emotion  caused  his  voice  to  falter  after  the 
words,  "My  bleeding  country;"  but  soon  recovering, 
he  delivered  a  most  powerful  harangue  to  the  assem- 
bled troops :  "Magyars,"  he  said,  "there  is  the  road  to 
your  peaceful  homes  and  firesides ;  yonder  is  the  path 
to  death,  but  it  is  the  path  of  duty.  Which  will  you 
take?  Every  man  shall  choose  for  himself.  We  want 
none  but  willing  soldiers."  In  answer  to  this  appeal, 
30,000  Hungarian  soldiers  shouted:  "Liberty  or 
death." 

While  with  the  army  at  this  time,  Kossuth  evinced 
an  unsuspected  talent, — namely,  that  of  a  tactician  and 
strategist.  While  the  battle  was  in  progress,  the  un- 
disciplined Croats,  led  by  the  Ban,  Baron  Joseph 
Jellachich,  were  thrown  into  disorder.  Kossuth  or- 
dered the  Commander  of  the  Hungarian  army,  General 
Moga,  to  advance  and  storm  Schwechat,  only  a  few 
miles  distant  from  Vienna.  He  saw  at  once  that  with 
Schwechat  taken,  the  fate  of  the  Austrian  army  would 
be  sealed.  General  Moga,  however,  refused  to  obey 
Kossuth's  order,  whereupon  he  was  relieved  of  the 
command,  and  General  Gorgey  took  his  place.  Much 
valuable  time  had  been  lost,  and  the  Viennese,  who 
were  besieged  by  Windisgraetz's  army,  despairing  of 
getting  any  help  from  the  Magyars,  surrendered  un- 
conditionally. Had  Kossuth's  suggestion  been  carried 
out,  and  the  siege  of  Vienna  raised,  in  all  probability 


KOSSUTH'8    PRAYER  21 

there  would  have  been  a  different  ending  to  the  Hun- 
garian struggle  for  independence. 

The  failure  of  the  Hungarian  army's  advance  to 
Vienna,  and  its  subsequent  capitulation,  was  followed 
by  many  unfortunate  engagements,  until  at  last  the 
Hungarian  capital  was  removed  from  Pesth  to  De- 
bretzen,  in  the  central  part  of  Hungary. 

KOSSUTH'S  PRAYER  AFTER  THE  BATTLE  OF  KAPOLNA 

By  brilliant  strategy,  and  some  hard  fought  and 
gained  victories,  the  tide  of  fortune  had  again  changed ; 
but  not  before  the  Hungarian  nation  had  been  baptized 
in  the  blood  of  its  thousands  of  fallen  heroes.  At 
the  battle  of  Kapolna,  fought  Feb.  27,  1849,  the  Hun- 
garians retained  their  position,  but  alas,  at  what  a 
fearful  cost  of  lives.  In  many  particulars  the  battle  of 
Kapolna  may  be  likened  to  the  battle  of  Gettys- 
burg. Kossuth,  like  Abraham  Lincoln,  consecrated 
the  battlefield,  after  the  carnage  was  over,  by  a 
never-to-be-forgotten  oration.  Here  are  some  ex- 
tracts from  this  wonderful  outpouring  of  Kossuth's 
soul :  "My  God,  Thy  bright  sun  shines  above  me,  while 
beneath  my  knees  rest  the  bones  of  my  fellow  broth- 
ers. Thy  stainless  azure  over-canopies  us,  but  be- 
neath, the  earth  is  red  with  the  sacred  blood  of  the 
children  of  our  fathers. — Consecrate  this  spot  by  Thy 
grace,  that  the  ashes  of  brothers  who  have  fallen  in 
this  sacred  cause  may  rest  in  hallowed  repose.  For- 
sake us  not  in  the  hour  of  need.  Bless  our  efforts  to 
promote  that  liberty  of  which  Thine  own  spirit  is  the 
essence.  For  to  Thee,  in  the  name  of  the  whole  people, 
I  ascribe  all  honor  and  praise." 


22  REMINISCENCES 

DECLARATION  OF   INDEPENDENCE 

The  fortunes  of  war  having  changed  in  favor  of 
the  Hungarians,  Kossuth  and  the  Diet,  sitting  in  the 
improvised  capital,  Debretzen,  had  decided  that  the 
time  had  come  when  the  nation  should  declare  itself 
independent.  So  on  the  14th  of  April,  1849,  emulating 
the  example  set  July  4th,  1776,  in  Independence  Hall, 
Philadelphia,  they  declared  Hungary  "Thenceforth  in- 
dependent of  the  reigning  house  of  Habsburg  Lor- 
raine." 

The  declaration  of  independence,  which  was  the 
product  of  Kossuth's  master  mind,  also  said  among 
other  things :  "We  also  hereby  proclaim  and  make 
known  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  of 
Hungary  and  Transylvania,  and  their  dependencies, 
that  all  authorities,  communes,  towns  and  civil  officers 
are  completely  set  free  and  released  from  all  their  obli- 
gations under  which  they  stood,  by  oath  or  otherwise, 
to  the  said  house  of  Habsburg  Lorraine,  and  that  any 
individual  daring  to  contravene  this  decree,  and  by 
word  or  deed  in  any  way  to  aid  or  abet  violating  it, 
shall  be  treated  and  punished  as  guilty  of  treason.  And 
by  the  publication  of  this  decree  we  hereby  bind  and 
obligate  the  inhabitants  of  these  countries  to  the  obedi- 
ence to  the  Government  instituted  formally  and  en- 
dowed with  all  necessary  legal  powers." 

The  new  birth  of  the  old  nation  was  hailed  by  both 
the  people  and  the  military  in  the  field.  The  Rus- 
sian vanguard  of  15,000  men,  as  well  as  the  main  por- 
tion of  the  Austrian  army,  had  been  driven  into  Wal- 
lachia  by  the  indefatigable  General  Bern,  Commander- 


DECLARATION    OF    INDEPENDENCE  23 

in-chief  of  the  Hungarian  forces  in  Transylvania.  The 
garrison  at  Rothenthurmer  Pass,  of  which  the  writer 
was  a  member,  was  resting,  after  having  driven  both 
Austrians  and  Russians  over  the  borders  into  Wal- 
lachia,  when  the  news  of  the  declaration  of  indepen- 
dence reached  it.  The  event  was  celebrated  by  the 
firing  of  cannon  and  the  parading  of  the  troops.  Only 
the  news  of  the  storming  of  the  fortress  of  Buda  cre- 
ated an  excitement  equaling  it. 

Kossuth's  daily  life  in  Debretzen,  while  working 
out  his  country's  problem,  in  which  his  very  life  was 
bound  up,  was  a  very  strenuous  one.  He  had  a  large 
room  for  the  reception  of  his  visitors.  In  this  large 
room  he  had  constantly  several  secretaries  at  work, 
taking  dictation  from  him  in  several  languages  at  the 
same  time.  He  invariably  worked  until  after  mid- 
night. It  has  been  said  that  during  these  strenuous 
days,  when  his  medical  adviser  would  drop  in  on  him, 
in  order  to  inquire  after  his  health,  he  would  extend 
his  left  hand  to  him  to  examine  the  pulse,  while  his 
right  hand  would  be  busily  plying  the  pen  on  some  im- 
portant state  document.  During  those  days  all  the 
recreation  he  allowed  himself  was  the  occasional  romp- 
ing with  his  children,  or  taking  short  drives  with  his 
family.  Whenever  he  showed  himself  in  public  the 
people  would  greet  him  with  enthusiastic  shouts  of: 
"filjen  Kossuth"  (Long  live  Kossuth).  The  love  which 
the  people  bore  their  deliverer  bordered  almost  on  wor- 
ship. The  only  fault  they  would  find  was  his  extreme 
tender-heartedness.  They  would  say:  "He  is  alto- 
gether too  good;  he  treats  his  enemies  as  he  does  his 


24  REMINISCENCES 

friends."     "Yes,"  they  would  say,  "he  is  altogether 
too  good." 

RUSSIAN    INVASION 

With  the  turning  of  the  fortunes  of  war,  Hungary's 
enemies  had  been  increased  by  130,000  Russians,  who 
had  crossed  the  frontier,  and  made  a  combined  army  of 
300,000  men,  Austrian  and  Russian  soldiers,  as  against 
135,000  patriots  fighting  for  the  nation's  independence. 
The  commissary  and  quartermaster's  department  were 
hardly  worthy  of  their  name.  While  the  uniforms  and 
accoutrements  furnished  by  the  quartermaster's  de- 
partment would  last  at  the  outside  a  few  weeks,  they 
could  not  be  replaced  readily  when  worn  out  after  hard 
campaigning.  As  to  the  commissary  department,  we 
virtually  had  none;  at  least  not  in  the  army  corps  in 
which  the  writer  was  engaged.  We  had  to  depend  on 
the  supplies  furnished  us  by  the  cities  and  towns 
where  we  were  stationed,  and  while  in  the  field  we  had 
to  get  along  with  raw  bacon  and  stale  bread,  carried 
along1  in  wagons  in  the  rear  of  the  moving  army.  And 
as  to  tents, — during  my  whole  period  of  campaigning 
I  had  never  seen  a  tent,  not  even  during  the  most 
severe  cold  weather. 

I  am  relating  these  things  merely  to  show  how  illy 
prepared  was  the  patriotic  army  to  resist  the  onslaught 
of  the  well-disciplined  and  well-fed  troops  of  our  ene- 
mies. But  what  we  lacked  in  material  resources,  Kos- 
suth  supplied  to  a  large  extent  with  his  burning  elo- 
quence, a  spirit  of  resistance  both  to  the  soldiers  in 
the  field  and  the  people  at  large,  that  was  quite  won- 
derful to  behold. 


s.  a 


THE   STORMING   OF   BUDA  25 

THE  STORMING  OF  BUDA 

The  storming  and  taking  of  Buda  was  a  feat  worthy 
to  be  recorded  in  the  annals  of  death-defying  heroism. 
It  was  a  most  dazzling  victory  for  the  ragged  and  de- 
spised Hungarian  Honveds.  After  a  most  terrific  can- 
nonade, they  scaled  the  walls  of  the  fortress  on  lad- 
ders, in  the  face  of  a  most  destructive  musketry  fire 
from  its  defenders.  All  defense  was,  however,  in  vain 
against  the  audacious  rush  of  the  scaling  Hungarians, 
for  as  quick  as  one  fell  from  the  scaling  ladders,  two 
took  his  place.  The  fort  was  taken  and  its  Comman- 
der, General  Henzi,  fell  pierced  with  bullets  and  bay- 
onet thrusts.  His  death  was  worthy  of  a  better  cause. 

In  those  days  the  electric  telegraph  was  as  yet 
unknown,  so  that  important  dispatches  were  trans- 
mitted by  the  so-called  tower  telegraph  system, 
through  signal  flags,  as  used  by  the  signal  corps  of 
armies.  On  the  23rd  of  May,  1849,  our  garrison  at 
Rothenthrum  was  ordered  out  on  dress  parade,  and 
the  following  stirring  news  was  read  to  it  by  its  Com- 
mander, Colonel  Ihasz:  "The  Fortress  of  Buda  is  in 
our  hands.  The  firing  has  ceased  on  all  sides ;  Buda 
is  conquered.  May  the  nation  gather  fresh  courage 
and  enthusiasm  from  the  example  of  this  success.  May 
the  combat  which  is  still  impending  be  short,  and  the 
liberation  of  the  country  complete.  Pray  to  God  and 
thank  Him  for  the  glory  he  has  vouchsafed  to  grant 
the  Hungarian  army,  whose  heroic  deeds  have  made  it 
the  bulwark  of  European  liberty.  Debretzen,  22nd 
May,  1848.  (Signed)  The  Governor  of  the  Common- 
wealth, Kossuth  Lajos." 


26  BEMINISCENCES 

An  old  Latin  proverb  says :  "Fama  manet ;  For- 
tuna  periti  (Fame  remains;  Fortune  is  lost).  The 
storming  and  taking  of  Buda  was  undoubtedly  a  very 
flattering  achievement,  and  an  act  of  heroism,  but  ac- 
cording to  subsequent  events  it  was  the  fatal  rock  on 
which  the  structure  of  Magyar  independence  was 
wrecked.  Instead  of  spending  three  precious  weeks 
before  the  gates  of  Buda,  had  Gorgey  with  his  victor- 
ious army  followed  up  their  success  in  recapturing  the 
old  capital  of  Pesth  by  pursuing  the  enemy,  they  could 
easily  have  marched  into  the  imperial  city  of  Vienna, 
where  they  would  have  been  in  a  position  to  dictate 
terms  to  the  Austrian  Government.  But  the  fatal 
delay  gave  General  Welden,  who  succeeded  Windis- 
graetz  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  Austrian  army, 
plenty  of  time  to  reorganize  the  weakened  army,  and 
to  resume  the  offensive  in  combination  with  the  Rus- 
sian hordes,  who  by  this  time  began  crossing  the 
frontier. 

I  shall  not  discuss  the  persistent  rumor  at  that 
time,  and  ever  afterwards  afloat,  that  Gorgey  by  his 
actions  betrayed  the  confidence  which  Kossuth  and 
the  nation  had  placed  in  him.  Volume  after  volume 
has  been  written  on  that  subject.  It  was  sufficiently 
plain  to  me  then,  while  carrying  the  musket,  and  ever 
afterwards,  that  a  fatal  mistake  was  made  in  not  fol- 
lowing up  the  retreating  enemy.  Another  great  mis- 
take was  made  later  by  turning  over  the  Government 
to  Gorgey,  thus  giving  him  the  power  to  complete 
his  treachery,  if  such  it  was,  by  surrendering  at  Vil- 
agos.  I  am  now  writing  down  incidents  in  Kossuth's 
life,  before  and  after  exile,  and  I  think  it  would  be  of 


MARTYRS    OF   HUNGARY  27i 

doubtful  propriety  for  me  to  express  my  opinion  here 
as  to  whether  Gorgey  was  a  traitor  or  not.  The  same 
fatal  error  was  committed  by  the  famous  Rakotzy, 
during  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  who 
when  hard  pressed  by  the  battalions  of  Emperor  Jo- 
seph, he  turned  over  the  government  to  one  of  his 
leading  Generals,  Count  Karolyi,  and  thereby  the  Re- 
public was  lost. 

The  many  disasters  attending  the  Hungarian  arm- 
ies, after  the  fall  of  Buda,  portended  the  beginning  of 
the  end.  The  army  in  Transylvania,  where  I  served, 
was  expelled  by  the  overwhelming  combined  forces 
of  Austria  and  Russia.  The  55th  Battalion,  of  which 
I  was  a  member,  stationed  at  the  Rothenthurmer  Pass, 
fought  its  last  battle  for  Hungarian  independence  on 
the  20th  of  July,  1849,  when  it  was  driven  across  the 
border  into  Wallachia,  then  a  Turkish  province,  where 
it  laid  down  its  arms.  After  many  hardships  endured 
in  its  march  through  Wallachia,  it  reached  Widdin, 
Bulgaria,  on  the  shores  of  the  Danube,  where  for  the 
first  time  the  worn  and  footsore  members  of  our  Bat- 
talion heard  of  the  total  collapse  of  the  Hungarian 
War  of  Independence. 

MARTYRS   OF   HUNGARY 

One  word  about  the  never-to-be-forgotten  day  of 
September  4th,  1849.  Hungarians  and  their  descend- 
ants to  the  thousandth  generation  will  ever  remember 
with  horror  the  butchery  committed  by  the  Austrian 
General  Haynau,  to  whom  the  Hungarian  army  was 
delivered  after  its  surrender  to  the  Russians.  Ages  and 
ages  of  continuous  penance  will  be  required  to  wipe 


28  BEMINISCENCES 

out  that  atrocious  act,  which  at  the  time  shocked  the 
whole  civilized  world.  I  herewith  give  the  roll  of 
honor  of  those  who  were  executed  at  Arad  on  Sep- 
tember 4th,  1849 : 

General  Aulich,  Minister  of  War. 

Lieutenant  General  Kiss. 

General  Damjanich. 

General  Nagy  Sandor. 

General  Desseffy. 

General  Leiningen,  cousin  of  Queen  Victoria. 

General  Vecsey. 

General  Torok. 

General  Lahner. 

General  Poltenberg. 

General  Knessich. 

General  Schweidel. 

General  Count  Lazar. 

Colonel  Kazinczy. 

KOSSUTH'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 

After  issuing  a  farewell  address  to  his  bereaved 
country,  Kossuth  crossed  the  frontier  at  Orsowa 
August  18th,  1849,  and  when  my  battalion  reached 
Widdin  he  was  already  there,  with  some  thousands 
of  oth,er  refugees. 

As  we  were  more  than  half  prisoners,  our  camp  on 
the  shores  of  the  Danube  being  guarded  by  a  cordon 
of  Turkish  soldiers,  there  was  no  opportunity  of  see- 
ing our  Ex-Governor  or  listening  very  often  to  his 
inspiring  and  cheering  words.  On  one  occasion  only 
did  he  pay  us  a  visit,  when  the  proposition  to  turn 
Mohammedans  was  brought  by  courier  from  Stambul. 


KOSSUTH'S   FAREWELL  ADDRESS  29 

That  was  the  first  time  I  ever  had  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  him.  He  spoke  to  officers  and  men  alike,  tell- 
ing them  that  they  were  to  settle  the  changing  of  their 
faith  between  themselves  and  their  God;  but  as  for 
himself,  he  would  rather  face  the  hangman  than  for- 
sake the  faith  of  his  forefathers.  The  proposition  to 
have  the  Hungarian  refugees  change  their  faith,  in 
order  to  prevent  them  being  delivered  to  Austria  or 
Russia,  came  from  the  Turkish  Divan,  fof  then  as  they 
claimed,  they  could  call  up  the  law  of  the  Koran, 
which  forbids  the  delivering  of  a  Moslem  to  Chris- 
tians. When,  however,  the  negative  reply  was  deliv- 
ered at  Constantinople,  Sultan  Abdul  Medjid,  one  of 
the  most  tender-hearted  rulers  that  has  ever  sat  on  a 
throne,  exclaimed :  "Not  one  of  these  Magyars  shall 
be  delivered.  I  would  rather  lose  500,000  men  than 
to  deliver  them."  His  decision  was  supported  by  the 
Sheik  ul  Islam  (the  head  of  the  Moslem  church).  Some 
of  the  refugees  voluntarily  embraced  Islamism,  among 
whom  was  the  celebrated  General  Bern,  who  did  it 
more  from  political  motives. 

It  is  but  justice  to  the  honor  of  the  British  nation 
to  record  here,  that  the  British  fleet  under  Admiral 
Parker  was  ordered  to  Besica  Bay  to  support  Abdul 
Medjid  in  refusing  to  deliver  the  Hungarian  refugees 
to  Austria.  They  entered  the  Dardanells. 

Soon  after  this  episode  the  majority  of  the  rank 
and  file,  having  been  promised  immunity  from  pun- 
ishment, returned  to  Hungary,  but  most  of  them  were 
enrolled  in  the  Austrian  army. 

After    having    been    transpoi  ted  to    Schumla,    Bul- 
garia, where  we  stopped  for  some  weeks,  the  Hun- 


30  BEMINISCENCES 

garian  refugees  were  separated  in  two  parts.  Kossuth 
and  his  followers,  mostly  officers  of  high  rank,  were 
sent  to  Kutaiha,  Asia  Minor,  where  they  were  kept 
as  guests  of  the  Turkish  Government.  They  were 
paid  stated  salaries,  according  to  their  rank,  for  sub- 
sistence. General  Bern,  with  another  set  of  officers, 
was  sent  to  Alleppo,  Syria,  where  they,  including  the 
writer,  were  kept  equally  as  guests  of  the  Padishah 
until  after  the  release  of  Kossuth  in  1851. 

RELEASE  OF  KOSSUTH  IN  1851 

On  the  afternoon  of  September  7th,  1851,  the  U.  S. 
Steamer  Mississippi,  Captain  Long,  Commander, 
sailed  from  Constantinople  up  the  Dardanells.  A  Turk- 
ish frigate  also  left  the  moorings  in  the  Bosphorus  for 
Gemlik  where  Kossuth  and  his  comrades  were  to  em- 
bark. Kossuth  arrived  at  Southampton  October  23d  on 
the  steamer  Madrid,  which  he  took  at  Gibraltar.  There 
arose  some  ill  feeling  between  Captain  Long  and  Kos- 
suth over  his  addressing  the  French  people  who  gath- 
ered at  the  wharf  of  Marseilles  where  Napoleon  re- 
fused to  let  him  land  and  cross  France  over  to  Eng- 
land. 

As  it  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  release  of  Kos- 
suth was  effected  by  the  United  States  Government, 
through  the  indefatigable  exertions  on  the  part  of  the 
then  celebrated  Secretary  of  State,  Daniel  Webster, 
and  other  freedom-loving  men  in  Congress,  like  Wm. 
H.  Seward,  Thomas  Corwin,  Richard  Yates  of  Illinois, 
and  many  more  of  like  prominence,  I  shall  pass  here 
the  description  of  the  means  employed  for  his  libera- 
tion, and  simply  state  that  when  I  arrived  in  New 


KOSSUTH 'S   CERTIFICATES  31 

York,  in  the  early  spring-  of  1852,  as  special  bearer 
of  an  important  message  from  General  Kmetty,  who 
had  tarried  in  London  after  having  left  Aleppo,  I  met 
Kossuth  for  the  first  time  face  to  face  at  the  Irwing 
Hotel,  New  York,  he  having  arrived  December  6th, 
1851,  on  the  steamer  "Vanderbilt ;"  as  he  passed  Gov- 
ernor's Island,  a  salute  of  38  guns  was  fired.  Grasp- 
ing me  warmly  by  the  hand,  he  congratulated  me  at 
my  final  delivery  from  my  persecutors,  and  at  once 
asked  me  if  he  could  be  of  any  service  to  me,  financially 
or  otherwise.  Thanking  him  for  his  kindness,  I  said 
that  I  had  a  little  money  for  the  present,  that  would 
carry  me  until  I  found  some  work  to  do,  in  order  to 
earn  my  living  in  this  land  of  the  brave  and  the  free. 
He  thereupon  asked  his  secretary  to  write  out  the 
certificate  which  I  herewith  incorporate;  also  the  one 
he  sent  me  from  Kutaiah,  certifying  to  my  service  in 
the  Hungarian  Army  during  the  war  of  liberation. 


Wherewith  the  undersigned  testifies  that  Mr.  Kune 
Julian  was  serving  in  the  war  of  independence  in 
Hungary  in  the  55th  Battalion  as  non-commissioned 
officer  and  Lieutenant,  with  untiring  zeal  and  bravery, 
until  the  end  of  the  war.  By  testifying  the  above,  I 
at  the  same  time  recommend  said  Mr.  Kune  to  the 
kind  notice  and  patronage  of  all  to  whom  he  may  apply. 
New  York,  June  26,  1852.  (Signed)  L.  Kossuth." 

(Seal  of  the  Hungarian  Governor  President.) 

Translation  from  the  French  of  the  certificate  Louis 
Kossuth  sent  me  while  I  was  residing  at  Aleppo, 
Syria : 


Jf  REMINISCENCES 

CERTIFICATE 

The  undersigned,  Governor  of  Hungary,  testifies 
that  Mr.  Julian  Kune  has  faithfully  served  his  country 
during  the  war  of  Hungary's  liberation  in  the  army 
of  Transylvania  in  the  55th  battalion,  as  private,  cor- 
poral and  sergeant,  and  having  himself  so  distinguished 
in  several  battles,  and  especially  in  the  battle  of  Roth- 
enthurmer  Pass,  that  according  to  the  authentic  testi- 
mony of  his  brigade  commander,  he  merited  to  be  dec- 
orated by  the  military  order  of  the  third  class,  of  which 
announcement  was  made  in  the  official  Monitor.  After 
the  brave  garrison  of  Rothenthurmer  Pass  was  com- 
pelled, after  a  most  glorious  resistance,  to  withdraw 
into  Wallachia,  and  after  the  catastrophe  of  the  coun- 
try brought  about  through  Gorgey's  treason,  had  aug- 
mented the  number  of  refugees  in  the  camp  at  Widdin 
to  4,000  men,  it  became  necessary  to  nominate  some 
energetic  commissioned  officer,  the  said  Julian  Kune 
was,  in  consideration  of  his  energy  and  personal  brav- 
ery, nominated  lieutenant  in  the  Hungarian  army.  In 
giving  him  this  certificate  I  recommend  the  said  lieu- 
tenant, as  a  man  of  honor  and  a  brave  officer,  to  the 
good  will  of  those  to  whom  he  may  apply. 

Kutaiah,  Asia  Minor,  March  1st,  1851. 
The  Governor  of  Hungary.    (Signed)  Kossuth  Lajos." 

/Seal  of  the  Hungarian  Governor  President.) 

KOSSUTH'S  SPEECHES 

The  speeches  Kossuth  delivered,  both  in  England 
and  the  United  States,  have  become  classics  of  the 
English  language.  They  all  bear  the  sign  of  the  out- 
pourings of  an  honest  heart,  of  one  who  had  conse- 


KOSSUTH'S    SPEECHES  33 

crated  his  whole  life  to  liberate  his  nation  from  the 
oppressors.  Although  he,  like  Moses  of  old,  was  not 
granted  to  enjoy  the  fruitage  of  his  arduous  task,  it 
nevertheless  resulted  in  a  grand  success,  for  the  seeds 
of  liberty  he  had  sown  in  1847,  '48  and  '49  have  now 
about  fully  matured  and  are  ready  for  the  harvest. 
Hungary,  although  not  as  yet  independent,  enjoys  now 
a  most  liberal  constitutional  government. 

I  will  close  this  sketch  with  a  few  words  from  the 
Leeds  "Mercury"  (England).  Its  editor,  after  listen- 
ing to  Kossuth's  speeches  at  Manchester  and  Birming- 
ham, said :  "Next  week  may  enable  us  to  recover  and 
use  judgment  after  the  too-inspiring  appeals  of  the 
suffering  patriot,  whose  voice  yet  rings  in  our  ears 
like  a  trumpet  with  a  silver  sound."  Weeks,  months, 
and  sixty  years  have  passed,  and  the  cool  judgment  of 
the  world  is,  that  past  or  contemporaneous  history  has 
not  produced  an  orator  who  could  convey  his  thoughts 
with  such  an  easy  grace,  and  with  such  an  irresistible 
flow  of  language,  as  did  Louis  Kossuth,  the  orator  and 
patriot. 


PART  II. 

GENERAL  BEM 

Having  served  during  the  Hungarian  War  of  Inde- 
pendence, under  General  Bern,  the  writer  will  turn 
back  the  narrative  of  his  reminiscences  to  the  time 
when  he  enlisted  in  the  55th  Battalion  of  Honveds 
(Home  Defenders)  at  his  native  town.  As  previously 
mentioned,  he  had  served  three  months  in  the  Banat 
as  a  member  of  the  National  Guard,  or  of  the  Onkenytes 
(Volunteers)  as  they  were  designated. 

During  the  three  months'  service  in  the  Banat  I 
saw  but  little  of  real  fighting  in  the  open  field.  The 
service  of  the  National  Guard  mostly  consisted  of 
picket  duty  and  keeping  the  insurrection  of  the  Serv- 
ians from  spreading.  As  soon  as  the  55th  Battalion 
was  organized  in  Nagy  Varad  (Gross  Wardein)  it 
left  for  Transylvania  (Siebenburgen  in  German  and 
Erdely  Orszag  in  Hungarian)  under  the  command  of 
Major  Ihasz,  who  subsequently  became  the  com- 
mander of  our  brigade  and  one  of  Kossuth's  fellow 
exiles  at  Kutaiah  in  Asia  Minor. 

We  crossed  the  frontier  about  the  1st  of  February, 
1849,  and  after  several  days  of  severe  marching  we 
arrived  at  Deva,  February  7th,  and  there  we  became 
part  of  the  division  commanded  by  Major  Hrabowski. 
This  division  was  hurriedly  formed  and  pushed  for- 
ward in  order  to  increase  General  Bern's  army,  which 

34 


GENERAL   BEM  35 

was  being  pushed  hard  by  the  Austrian  General  Puch- 
ner  with  an  overwhelming  force.  Bern,  only  one  day 
before  our  division  joined  him,  had  the  middle  finger 
of  his  right  hand  shot  off,  in  his  attempt  to  defend  the 
only  two  cannons  he  had. 

A  few  words  about  the  title  subject  of  this  sketch 
will  bring  out  the  justification  of  his  having  been 
named  as  the  most  successful  and  most  dashing  of 
Hungarian  generals  by  his  admirers. 

Joseph  Bern  was  born  in  Tarnov,  Austrian  Poland, 
in  1795.  He  received  a  military  education,  and  like 
many  of  his  compatriots,  served  in  the  Polish  Legion 
under  Napoleon  I.  He  subsequently  was  involved  in 
the  Polish  insurrection  of  1831,  the  collapse  of  which 
caused  him  to  make  his  domicile  in  Paris,  France, 
where  in  various  ways  he  earned  a  living  by  teaching 
military  engineering,  in  which  he  was  an  expert. 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolution  in  Vienna 
he  hurriedly  repaired  to  that  city,  while  on  his  way 
to  Hungary  to  offer  his  services  in  behalf  of  constitu- 
tional freedom.  The  Viennese,  aware  of  his  splendid 
military  attainments,  and  of  his  having  served  under 
Davoust  and  Macdonald  in  the  Napoleonic  campaign 
of  1812,  urged  him  to  accept  the  command  of  the  de- 
fense of  the  Austrian  capital.  After  much  hesitation 
he  yielded  to  the  popular  demand.  He  immediately 
concentrated  all  his  energies  in  strengthening  the  de- 
fenses of  the  city,  expecting  an  investment  by  the 
Austrian  army  under  Prince  Windisgraetz.  Owing  to 
the  incapacity  of  the  Viennese  revolutionary  leader, 
Messenhauer,  and  to  the  undecided  action  of  the  com- 
mittee of  defense  in  calling  the  35,000  Magyars,  who, 


36  BEMINISCENCES 

under  the  leadership  of  Kossuth  were  at  the  gates  of 
Vienna  waiting  to  be  invited  to  enter  the  city,  which 
was  held  against  the  ever-increasing  enemy,  on  the 
29th  of  October,  1848,  finally  had  to  capitulate  uncon- 
ditionally. It  is  heartsickening  even  to  recall  the  cruel 
butcheries  that  followed  the  surrender  of  the  city. 
I  will  merely  mention  one  martyr,  the  world-wide  cele- 
brated Robert  Blum,  whose  son,  Hans  Blum,  was  the 
correspondent  of  the  Leipzig  illustrated  "Daheim" 
during  the  Franco-Prussian  war  in  1870,  and  a  boon 
companion  of  the  writer  of  this  sketch,  who  repre- 
sented the  Chicago  "Tribune." 

General  Bern,  after  the  capitulation,  left  Vienna  by 
slipping  through  the  Austrian  army,  and  presented 
himself  at  Pressburg,  Hungary,  before  the  "Committee 
of  Defense,"  presided  over  by  Louis  Kossuth,  to  whom 
he  offered  his  services.  The  most  complicated  and 
difficult  problem  at  that  time  presented  itself  in  Tran- 
sylvania, an  integral  part  of  Hungary  proper,  where 
the  Wallachians  predominated  in  numbers,  and  who 
were  induced  to  rise  in  insurrection  against  the  newly 
constituted  Hungarian  government  by  a  leader  named 
Janko,  a  very  popular  and  cunning  man  among  the 
Wallachians.  At  that  time  illiteracy  in  Hungary  was 
much  more  prevalent  than  now,  so  that  Wallachians, 
in  an  almost  semi-barbaric  state,  were  easily  misled. 

Kossuth  wisely  sent  General  Bern  to  Transylvania 
to  suppress  the  Wallachian  insurrection  and  to  oppose 
a  rapidly  concentrating  Austrian  army  under  General 
Puchner;  besides  the  advance  guard  of  the  invading 
Russian  army  had  already  crossed  the  frontier,  form- 
ing the  reserve  to  the  Austrian  army. 


THE    BATTLE    OF    PISKI  37 

THE   BATTLE  OF   PISKJ 

It  has  been  my  experience,  acquired  during  three 
campaigns,  that  the  active  fighters — by  which  I  mean 
the  rank  and  file  and  company  officers — are,  on  but  rare 
occasions,  able  to  give  an  accurate  description  of  the 
battle  engaged  in.  Their  minds  are  too  intently  cen- 
tered on  the  work  allotted  to  them,  so  that  the  move- 
ments of  other  troops,  not  immediately  connected  with 
their  own,  are  unknown ;  nor  can  they  keep  track  of 
the  strategy  or  tactics,  either  of  their  own  or  the  ene- 
my's commanders.  A  true  description  of  the  Battle 
of  Piski  would  be  quite  difficult  to  give  from  my  own 
personal  observation,  but  combining  my  personal  ex- 
periences with  the  official  reports  of  the  various  com- 
manders, a  tolerably  correct  idea  may  be  obtained  of 
the  Battle  of  Piski — one  that  was  unrivaled  in  fierce- 
ness, heroism,  audacity  and  the  higher  tactics. 

The  55th  Battalion  of  Honveds,  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  then  Major  Ihasz,  composed  of  1,200  men 
and  officers,  reached  Deva  on  the  7th  of  February, 
1849.  The  llth  Honved  Battalion  having  reached 
there  before  us,  the  two  battalions  were  formed  into  a 
brigade,  under  the  command  of  Major  Hrabowsky. 
Not  having  any  commissary  department,  we  were  bil- 
leted on  the  inhabitants  of  the  city,  the  majority  of 
whom  were  Wallachians,  and  strong  sympathizers  with 
the  insurrectionary  movement  of  their  race.  The  fact 
is,  that  most  of  the  male  population  of  the  city  were 
absent  and  in  the  ranks  of  the  insurgents,  hovering  in 
the  mountains  in  the  vicinity  of  Deva. 

In  billeting  our  men,  the  officers  took  the  precau- 


38  EEMINISCENCE8 

tion  to  assign  to  each  dwelling  not  less  than  ten  to 
fifteen  men,  with  one  corporal  or  sergeant  I  fortu- 
nately was  assigned  in  command  of  about  twenty  men 
into  a  house  belonging  to  a  Magyar.  After  a  fair,  but 
not  very  sumptuous  supper,  we  stretched  ourselves 
on  the  floor  of  the  largest  room  to  snatch  some  rest 
and  sleep  before  the  dawn  of  the  coming  day,  which 
may  prove  the  last  to  many  a  poor  fellow.  About  one 
o'clock  after  midnight,  I  was  awakened  by  the  dismal 
wailing  of  our  landlady,  who  with  lighted  candle  in 
hand,  entered  our  room,  telling  us:  "Oh,  you  poor 
boys,  the  Wallachians  under  Janko  are  swooping  down 
on  you  from  the  mountains."  No  sooner  were  the 
warning  words  heard  than  I  aroused  the  men,  who  in 
an  instant  were  up  and  under  arms.  Meanwhile  the 
long  roll  of  the  drum,  that  ominous  sound  which, 
strange  to  say,  always  produces  in  the  breast  of  the 
soldier  martial  ardor  and  not  fear,  was  calling  the 
whole  brigade  to  the  previously  designated  rallying 
place,  where  in  less  than  ten  minutes  stood  2,500  men, 
ready  to  obey  the  commands  of  their  officers. 

The  Wallachians,  who  were  seen  along  the  sides  of 
the  mountains,  realizing  that  for  this  time  taking  the 
Magyars  by  surprise  was  a  failure,  disappeared  in  their 
mountain  fastnesses,  after  we  had  thrown  a  few  cannon 
balls  among  them.  The  plan  evidently  was  to  surprise 
us,  and  while  the  Austrian  garrison,  which  was  hold- 
ing the  fort  at  Deva  was  pouring  its  shells  into  our 
midst,  the  Wallachians  would  give  us  the  finishing 
coup  de  grace  by  mas'sacreing  us. 

Notwithstanding  the  failure  of  this  plot,  the  brigade 
was  kept  under  arms  the  balance  of  that  night.  Hav- 


THE   BATTLE    OF    PISKI  39 

ing  thrown  pickets  around  the  brigade,  the  men  and 
officers  were  allowed  to  break  ranks  and  throw  them- 
selves on  the  frozen  ground.  At  early  dawn  we  re- 
ceived some  requisitioned  bread  and  raw  bacon,  some 
of  which  was  eaten  as  breakfast  and  the  balance 
shoved  into  our  canvas  haversacks.  This  done,  we 
started  on  a  well  preserved  military  road  leading  to 
the  place  called  Piski,  about  one  and  one-half  hours 
distant  from  Deva. 

We  had  not  been  on  the  march  an  hour  before  we 
heard  from  the  direction  of  Piski  the  booming  of  the 
cannon.  We  now  changed  from  marching  in  column, 
three  abreast  (old  Austrian  tactics),  to  company  for- 
mation, leaving  the  main  road  and  deploying  on  the 
corn  stubble  fields  to  the  right  flank. 

Piski  was  more  of  a  collection  of  government  cus- 
tom house  buildings,  scattered  along  the  right  hand 
shore  of  the  river,  called  Strigy,  or  Strehl  in  German. 
This  river  flows  from  north  to  south  until  it  empties 
only  a  few  miles  distant  from  Piski  into  the  river 
Maros. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  battle  General  Bern  was 
sick  with  fever,  in  consequence  of  the  wound  he  re- 
ceived while  defending  the  day  before  the  only  two 
cannons  he  had.  It  is  noteworthy  that  Bern  never 
girded  a  sword  around  his  waist,  either  in  or  out  of 
battle.  He  carried  a  small  whip  in  his  hand,  which 
sometimes  he  applied  to  his  horse,  and  occasionally 
as  a  weapon  of  attack  against  those  who  dared  to  at- 
tempt to  capture  his  guns.  It  was  thus  that  on  the 
occasion  when  he  was  wounded,  he  was  standing  be- 
side his  two  cannons,  directing  the  aiming  himself, 


40  EEMINISCENCES 

when  a  column  of  Austrian  troops  made  a  rush  on  the 
exposed  guns,  which  at  that  time  were  unprotected, 
when  he  applied  his  whip  to  the  Austrians  who  at- 
tempted to  disable  the  guns,  with  the  exclamation : 
"Hey,  you  rascals,  these  are  my  guns ;  get  away  from 
here."  The  men  were  so  taken  aback  by  an  unarmed 
man  striking  them  with  a  whip  that,  with  the  exception 
of  the  one  who  shot  off  General  Bern's  finger,  they  all 
decamped,  pursued  by  the  protecting  guards  of  the 
cannon,  who  had  meanwhile  appeared  on  the  scene. 

As  the  battalion  approached  the  river  in  skirmish  line 
our  men  began  dropping,  being  hit  by  bullets  from  the 
Austrian  sharpshooters,  who  were  concealed  in  the 
buildings  on  the  opposite  shore.  Our  commander, 
Major  Ihasz,  at  once  put  spurs  to  his  horse,  plunged 
into  the  seething  river,  calling  to  his  men,  "Follow 
me,  boys."  The  writer,  leading  the  first  section  of  his 
company,  followed  closely  his  commander,  crossing 
the  river  that  was  waist  deep  and  covered  with  float- 
ing ice.  The  great  difficulty  was  in  keeping  our  mus- 
kets, which  were  of  the  old  Zuendnadel  pattern,  from 
being  rendered  useless,  but  lifting  them  and  our  cart- 
ridge boxes  above  our  heads,  most  of  us  succeeded  in 
preventing  the  water  from  filling  our  guns.  Once 
across,  we  charged  the  buildings  with  fixed  bayonets, 
for  that  was  our  only  chance  of  success,  and  the  Aus- 
trians were  soon  dislodged  from  their  seemingly  im- 
pregnable position. 

It  was  here  that  the  writer  had  the  narrowest 
escape  from  death  during  his  eventful  life.  While 
leading  his  men  into  a  building,  whence  came  the  most 
destructive  hail  of  bullets,  a  young  Austrian  rifleman 


THE    BATTLE    OF    PISKI  41 

leveled  his  rifle  at  the  writer,  who  was  almots  touching 
it  with  his  back,  but  providentially,  before  the  Austrian 
could  pull  his  trigger,  Nagy  Laszlo,  a  big  corporal  of 
my  company,  with  a  powerful  blow  from  the  butt  of 
his  musket,  had  knocked  the  gun  out  of  the  Austrian's 
hands  and  he  was  about  to  impale  him  on  his  bayonet 
when  the  writer  turning  about  face  prevented  it  and 
made  his  would-be  slayer  a  prisoner  of  war. 

The  Austrians  were  driven  back  at  all  points  during 
the  first  two  hours  of  the  battle,  but  the  enemy  in  their 
retreat  having  destroyed  the  bridge  after  crossing  it, 
our  artillery  was  delayed  some  little  time  by  the  repair- 
ing of  this  bridge.  Meanwhile,  the  Austrians  being 
reinforced  by  fresh  troops  from  Hermanstadt,  where 
but  a  few  days  previous  they  had  repelled  an  attack 
by  General  Bern.  The  Russian  reserve  army  of  15,000 
men  also  appeared  for  the  first  time  in  the  field,  not 
actually  to  participate  in  the  battle,  but  to  intimidate- 
the  poorly  equipped  Hungarian  Patriots.  The  tide  of 
battle  had  thus  changed,  and  the  Patriot  army  was 
soon  compelled  to  retreat,  the  55th  Battalion  being 
compelled  once  more  to  cross  the  river,  hotly  pursued 
by  the  Austrians.  General  Bern,  who  was  still  invali- 
dated, hearing  of  the  turn  things  had  taken,  arose  from 
his  camp  bed,  and  appeared  on  the  scene  of  battle  just 
as  our  troops  were  attempting  to  cross  the  bridge  in 
retreat.  "Ich  muss  die  briicke  haben,  oder  ich  werde 
fallen."  "I  must  have  the  bridge,  or  I  shall  be  lost," 
were  the  first  words  he  uttered  to  his  battalion  com- 
manders, who  with  their  men,  inspired  by  the  brave 
Pole,  stormed  the  bridge  and  retook  the  previously 
lost  cannon.  The  llth  and  55th  Battalions  bore  the 


42  BEMINISCENCE8 

brunt  of  this  storming.  The  battle  lasted  until  dark, 
with  varied  success  to  our  arms,  when  the  Austrian 
army  retreated  toward  Hermanstadt,  leaving  in  our 
possession  many  prisoners,  cannon,  firearms  and  muni- 
tions of  war.  We  pursued  the  enemy  until  about 
11  o'clock  that  night,  when  there  was  made  a  halt, 
so  that  our  men  could  gain  a  few  hours'  rest.  We  all 
threw  ourselves  on  the  white  blanket  (snow)  which 
covered  the  frozen  ground,  and  slept,  notwithstanding 
the  wintry  blasts  that  would  have  caused  our  clothing 
to  freeze  to  the  body  had  not  the  excitement  of  the 
day  kept  it  at  fever  heat.  The  writer  up  to  this  day  is 
unable  to  account  for  or  remember  how  his  clothing 
got  dry,  after  crossing  the  river  up  to  his  waist  twice 
within  twelve  hours. 

After  a  rest  of  a  few  hours  and  a  meal  partaken  of, 
which  consisted  of  roasted  dried  corn  plucked  from  a 
nearby  field,  we  (the  55th)  resumed  our  march  toward 
Szaszvaros.  On  the  llth  of  March,  1849,  Bern  suddenly 
appeared  before  Hermanstadt,  circumvented  the  Aus- 
trian army,  and  took  the  city  by  storm,  its  defenders  of 
15,000  Russians  retreating  towards  the  Wallachian 
frontier.  It  was  a  great  victory,  as  it  closely  followed 
a  very  bombastic  report  of  the  Austrian  General  Puch- 
ner  to  Windisgraetz,  his  superior,  in  which  he  said: 
"We  have  retaken  the  whole  Kokol  (river)  line,  and  in 
a  few  days  Bern's  army  will  be  either  scattered  or 
captured." 

From  Hermanstadt  the  Hungarian  army  advanced 
towards  Rothenthurmer  Pass,  the  dividing  line  be- 
tween Transylvania .  and  Wallachia,  then  a  Turkish 
province,  where  after  a  fierce  battle  on  the  25th  of 


GENEEAL   BEM'S   GENIUS  43 

March,  1849,  both  Austrians  and  their  auxiliary  Rus- 
sians were  driven  across  the  border  line  into  Turkish 
territory  by  the  division  under  Lieut.  Col.  Ihasz,  our 
former  major,  but  now  promoted  to  the  lieutenant 
colonelcy,  whose  place  was  taken  by  Capt.  Barothy  Laszlo. 
When  we  consider  that  Bern,  whose  troops  never 
exceeded  10,000  men,  and  who  were  but  indifferently 
armed  and  equipped,  did  conquer  the  whole  of  Tran- 
sylvania, with  the  exception  of  two  forts,  Karlsburg 
and  Deva,  and  expelled  an  army  consisting  of  25,000 
Austrians  and  Russians,  within  three  months,  it  is  no 
wonder  that  General  Klapka,  the  hero  of  Komorn,  and 
one  of  our  greatest  generals  of  the  Hungarian  war  of 
Independence,  should  have  closed  his  memoirs  with 
the  following  tribute  to  Bern : 

GENERAL  BEM'S  GENIUS 

"Bern's  campaign  in  Transylvania  is  a  classical  ex- 
hibition of  modern  warfare.  His  name  will  forever 
remain  radiant  in  the  Pantheon  of  great  strategists." 

As  with  all  great  strategists,  Bern's  genius  shone 
brightest  and  showed  the  greatest  activity  in  finding 
new  resources  when  he  was  hardest  pressed.  His  mind 
during  the  retreat  at  Piski  was  clearest,  when  medi- 
ocre or  inferior  strategists  would  have  lost  their  heads. 
He  fairly  snatched  victory  from  almost  certain  defeat. 
He  furthermore  was  very  humane  in  the  treatment  of 
prisoners.  His  gallantry  was  of  the  old  type  in  vogue 
during  the  Napoleonic  days  of  the  first  empire.  He 
showed  this  gallantry  by  sending  General  Puchner's 
effects,  which  the  latter  had  left  in  his  quarters  at 
Hermanstadt,  to  him  by  two  Hussars,  and  true  to  the 


44  REMINISCENCES 

example  set   by  his   government   the   latter   tried  to 
detain  the  messengers  as  prisoners  of  war. 

In  my  sketch  of  Louis  Kossuth  I  referred  to  the  un- 
fortunate ending  of  the  War  of  Hungarian  Independ- 
ence, and  the  congregating  of  many  thousands  of  Hun- 
garian refugees  at  Widdin,  among  whom  was  also 
General  Bern,  who,  after  the  unfortunate  battle  of 
Temesvar,  perceiving  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the 
Hungarian  War  of  Liberation,  quietly  crossed  over 
into  Servia,  then  Turkish  territory,  at  Orsowa,  whence 
he  proceeded  to  Widdin,  which  city  our  battalion  (the 
55th)  after  having  had  its  last  fight  with  the  Russians 
on  the  20th  of  July,  1849,  had  also  reached  during  the 
latter  part  of  August,  the  interim  having  been  spent  in 
Wallachia,  marching,  camping,  burying  our  poor  boys, 
who  like  flies  succumbed  to  the  ravages  of  the  cholera 
prevailing  then  in  Wallachia.  Footsore  from  a  month's 
constant  marching,  in  tatters,  and  most  of  us  bare- 
footed, we  were  grateful  when  across  the  Danube  we 
beheld  the  minarets  of  Widdin,  from  whose  towers  the 
Imam  called  the  faithful  to  prayer,  and  many  of  us 
who  had  picked  up  some  Turkish  phrases  from  our 
military  escorts,  exclaimed :  "Mashallah ;  Allah  akbir." 
("Thanks  to  God ;  God  is  great.") 

SHUMLA 

As  heretofore  stated,  after  a  few  weeks'  anxious 
waiting  for  a  decision  of  what  our  fate  should  be,  we 
were  transported  overland  to  Schumla,  during  a  winter 
the  most  rigorous  Bulgaria  had  experienced  for  years. 
The  higher  officers  were  lodged  in  private  houses, 
while  the  rank  and  file  and  subaltern  officers  were 


SHUMLA  45 

housed  in  the  barracks,  sharing  the  quarters  and  fare 
of  the  Turkish  regiment  that  accompanied  them  dur- 
ing their  arduous  tramping  from  Widdin. 

After  the  Babi  Humayum  (Sublime  Porte),  which 
consisted  of  the  grand  vizier  and  other  high  function- 
aries, including  the  Sheik  Ul  Islam,  the  chief  of  the 
Ulemas  (Doctors  of  Law),  whose  decision  of  the  laws 
of  the  Koran  were  final  (and  Mohammedans  in  those 
days  had  no  laws  except  they  were  founded  on  the 
teachings  of  the  Koran)  had  issued  their  fetwa  (de- 
cree) and  refused  to  deliver  us  to  the  Russians  and 
Austrians,  we  were  divided  in  two  separate  divisions, 
as  stated  before. 

The  writer,  always  having  had  strong  predilections 
for  foreign  languages,  after  a  few  months'  intercourse 
with  the  Turkish  officers  was  able  to  converse  pretty 
fairly  in  that  language,  so  that  when  the  proposition 
was  made  to  him  to  accompany  General  Bern's  party 
to  Aleppo,  Asia  Minor,  he  gladly  accepted  it. 

Towards  the  end  of  February,  1850,  we  set  out  on 
horseback  for  Varna  on  the  Black  Sea.  Here  a  Turk- 
ish governmnt  steamer  was  in  waiting  for  us,  on  which 
we  embarked  and  crossed  the  temptuous  sea  during 
the  night.  Old  Neptune  was  very  sore  on  me,  that 
having  been  my  first  experience  of  seafaring,  and  I 
devoutly  wished  it  should  be  my  last. 

On  the  following  morning,  however,  as  we  entered 
the  far-famed  Bosphorus,  our  spirits  rose  to  the  highest 
level,  for  there  presented  itself  to  our  vision  a  most 
beautiful  scene.  We  were  steaming  now  in  the  Bos- 
phorus, whose  waters  washed  to  the  right  of  us  the 
numberless  seraglios  and  kiosks  of  Sultan  Abdul  Med- 


46  REMINISCENCES 

jid,  the  reigning  padishah;  on  the  left  was  Scutari,  in 
Asia  Minor.  We  were  astonished  at  the  vast  extent 
of  the  golden  horn,  one  of  the  largest  harbors  in  the 
world,  and  which  divides  Istamboul  or  Stamboul  from 
Galata  and  Pera,  the  Christian  quarters  of  Constanti- 
nople. Fate,  however,  decreed  that  we  should  be  de- 
nied the  privilege  of  landing  on  the  shores  of  this 
apparently  beautiful  city.  I  say  apparently,  for  as  I 
subsequently  learned  from  those  who  have  been  and 
lived  at  Constantinople,  the  hackneyed  saying  of  "dis- 
tance lends  enchantment"  applies  quite  aptly  to  Con- 
stantinople. 

After  passing  through  the  sea  of  Marmora,  the 
Dardanels,  the  Hellespont,  we  entered  the  ^Egean  sea 
and  made  our  first  and  only  stop  at  Rhodes,  celebrated 
for  its  genial  climate,  as  well  as  for  its  having  pos- 
sessed in  ancient  days  one  of  the  eight  wonders  of  the 
world,  namely,  the  Colossus  of  Rhodes.  After  an  ex- 
ploration of  a  few  hours,  which  was  graciously  granted 
to  us  by  the  officers  in  charge  of  our  escorts,  we  re- 
embarked  and  passing  on  our  way  Candia,  we  were 
landed  at  Alexandrette,  an  insignificant  port  on  the 
Mediterranean. 

As  I  remember  it,  Alexandrette  was  about  the  most 
God-forsaken  place  I  have  ever  visited.  Only  now 
and  then  was  it  honored  by  tramp  steamers  and  sail- 
ing vessels.  It  was  supposed  to  have  been  the  port  of 
Aleppo.  Beyrout,  however,  was  the  real  port  of 
Aleppo,  as  well  as  of  Damascus.  We  stopped  only 
over  night  at  Alexandrette. 

Early  on  the  following  morning  our  party,  consist- 
ing of  General  Bern,  who  was  now  Murad  Pasha,  Gen- 


A  BEDOUIN    CHIEF'S   GIFT  4.7 

eral  Kmetty,  now  Ismael  Pasha,  General  Stein,  with 
some  twenty-odd  staff  officers  and  a  squadron  of  Turk- 
ish cavalry,  set  out  on  horseback  for  Aleppo.  As  in 
those  days  there  was  no  four-wheeled  vehicle  in  all 
Syria,  the  road  we  traversed  was  a  mere  trail,  which 
caravans  followed  in  going  from  the  sea  either  to 
Antioch  or  further  on  to  Aleppo  (Halep  in  Arabic). 
We  had  been  on  the  road  but  a  few  hours  when  the 
linguistic  knowledge  of  the  writer  was  put  to  test. 

At  almost  every  hamlet  we  passed,  the  chief  and  his 
Bedouin  followers  were  found  lined  up  at  the  public 
wells,  or  rather  cisterns.  The  chief  would  invariably 
advance,  with  his  right  hand  touching  his  heart,  head 
and  lips,  and  greet  Murad  Pasha  with  "Selam  Alech- 
ims."  At  first  it  was  a  mystery  to  us  all,  how  he 
could  tell  Murad  Pasha  from  the  rest  of  the  officers. 
But  later  we  found  that  the  highest  dignitary  of  a  car- 
avan always  occupied  a  certain  position  in  the  line  of 
march,  and  he  is  always  attended  by  one  or  two  body 
servants,  who  walk  or  run  beside  him,  resting  their 
hands  on  the  back  of  his  charger.  The  commander  of 
our  caravan,  Mazzar  Bey,  a  colonel  of  the  Turkish 
army,  had  only  closely  followed  the  established  custom 
and  the  Bedouins,  who  often  met  traveling  Beys  and 
Pashas,  at  once  knew  where  to  find  the  most  promi- 
nent individual  of  the  caravan. 

A  BEDOUIN  CHIEF'S  GIFT 

At  one  of  these  oases  between  Iskanderen  (Alex- 
andrette)  and  Antioch,  a  Bedouin  chief  advanced,  lead- 
ing a  splendid  pure  blooded  Arabian  mare  toward  Gen- 
eral Bern,  reverently  saluting  him  with  his  "Selam, 


48  KEMINISCENCES 

Alechim,"  and  putting  the  end  of  the  halter  into  the 
general's  hand.  The  general,  unable  to  comprehend 
such  proceedings,  turned  to  me,  saying :  "What  does 
all  this  mean?"  My  limited  knowledge  of  Arabic  en- 
abled me  to  ask  the  Bedouin  chief  the  same  question, 
and  to  learn  that  he  presented  the  mare,  which  no 
money  could  buy,  as  a  gift  to  Murad  Pasha,  who,  as  he 
heard,  would  command  the  great  armies  of  the  Padisha 
Sultan  Abdul  Medjid.  I  explained  this  extravagant 
speech  and  the  offering  of  the  proposed  gift  to  the 
general,  who  begged  to  convey  through  me  his  high 
appreciation  of  the  honor,  and  his  thanks  for  the  gift, 
which  he  positively  could  not  accept.  The  general's 
treasury  was  just  then  too  empty  to  accept  such  a  val- 
uable gift,  which  would  require  the  giving  of  a  return 
gift  of  more  than  twice  the  value  of  the  mare,  which 
would  be  very  near  100  pounds  sterling. 

Arrived  at  the  ancient  city  of  Antioch,  we  made 
there  a  halt  of  a  day.  There  is  no  city  in  the  whole  of 
Syria  that  made  such  a  deep  impression  on  me  as  did 
this  ancient  city  on  the  river  Orontus,  where  once  the 
Apostles  Peter  and  Paul  had  been  living.  Nothing 
was  left  of  its  ancient  glories,  when  it  had  a  population 
of  over  200,000  inhabitants,  an  unrivaled  aqueduct  that 
carried  the  water  to  its  numerous  luxurious  public 
bathhouses;  when  thousands  upon  thousands  visited 
the  city  to  worship  in  the  temple  dedicated  to  Daphne, 
whose  celebrated  grove  was  near  Antioch.  Nothing 
but  its  ruins,  composed  of  immense  blocks  of  stone, 
remained  to  tell  of  its  departed  glory.  Beginning  away 
in  the  dim  past,  and  continuing  until  1832,  a  succession 
of  earthquakes  caused  such  irreparable  havoc  and  ruin 


ARBIVAL   IN   ALEPPO  49 

to  this  once  queen  of  cities  that  at  the  time  of  my 
visit,  in  1850,  it  was  but  a  collection  of  mud  hovels, 
inhabited  by  not  more  than  5,000  of  a  mixed  popula- 
tion. 

It  was  late  in  March,  1850,  when  we  first  beheld  the 
ancient  city  of  Halep,  where  we  were  destined  to  spend 
no  one  knew  whether  weeks,  months  or  years.  The 
Turkish  government  itself  did  not  know  how  long  we 
were  to  be  her  enforced  guests,  nor  did  they  know 
what  to  do  with  us  after  we  had  reached  our  destina- 
tion. All  was  left  to  kismet  (fate).  The  Turk  is  a 
philosopher.  He  never  worries  over  the  future,  nor 
does  he  grieve  over  the  past,  but  lives  for  the  present. 
If  you  approach  him  with  any  proposition  whatever, 
from  an  offer  to  buy  his  house,  horse,  or  anything  be- 
longing to  him,  to  informing  him  that  he  is  to  be 
decapitated,  he  will  invariably  meet  you  with  his 
"inshallah"  (if  it  pleases  God). 

ARRIVAL  IN  ALEPPO 

It  was  late  one  afternoon  when  we  made  our  entry 
into  Aleppo.  It  was  an  entry  long  to  be  remembered. 
We  were  met  on  the  outskirts  by  the  pasha  command- 
ing the  garrison  of  the  city.  It  looked  as  if  the  whole 
population  came  out  to  meet  us.  How  news  was  so 
rapidly  transmitted  during  those  days,  when  there  was 
not  a  single  mile  of  railroad  nor  a  sign  of  a  telegraph 
line  in  the  whole  of  the  Turkish  empire,  was  always  a 
puzzle  to  me.  By  the  reception  accorded  to  us  it  was 
evident  that  we  had  been  expected.  Every  man,  wom- 
an and  child  was  eager  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  cele- 
brated Magyar,  Murad  Pasha,  and  his  followers,  who 


gO  REMINISCENCES 

were  looked  up  to  by  the  people  as  members  of  the 
pasha's  staff.  A  Turkish  general  or  pasha,  when  he 
rides  or  walks  out,  has  more  than  twenty  officers  and 
servants  waiting  upon  him.  In  the  first  place,  a  few 
steps  behind  him  on  the  left,  rides  or  walks,  as  the 
case  may  be,  a  bimbashi  (major)  aide-de-camp,  through 
whom  the  pasha  transmits  all  orders.  Behind  the  bim- 
bashi come  several  jusbashies  (captains)  and  milazims 
(lieutenants),  who  are  followed  by  half  a  dozen  or 
more  tshawses  (sergeants).  These  sergeants  are  often 
times  required  to  do  the  work  of  tshibouk  and  nar- 
ghilla  carriers  and  caffetiers,  preparing  the  coffee  and 
filling  the  pipe  with  tobacco  or  the  narghilla  with  torn- 
back,  a  mild  species  of  tobacco  which  is  exclusively 
used  by  narghilla  smokers. 

After  a  tedious  ride  through  the  dusty  town  and 
city  we  reached  the  barracks,  which  were  situated  on  a 
hill  commanding  the  city.  There  was  also  an  ancient 
and  dilapidated  castle  which,  however,  was  not  garri- 
soned because  of  its  ruinous  condition. 

The  month  of  March  in  Aleppo  is  more  like  the 
month  of  July  in  Chicago.  With  the  exception  of  its 
gardens,  which  are  watered  by  the  river  Koeik,  vege- 
tation assumes  a  sear  and  yellow  hue.  The  heat  being 
very  oppressive,  the  streets  are  deserted  during  the 
day,  and  are  not  filled  again  until  after  the  setting  of 
the  sun,  when  the  bazaars,  which  are  very  extensive, 
present  an  animated  picture.  This  is  the  case  more 
especially  during  the  thirty  days  of  fasting,  called  the 
"Ramezzan."  Turks,  Arabs,  Kurds  and  Bedouins  all 
sit  around  the  various  coffee  houses,  sipping  their 
yemen  (coffee),  smoking  their  narghillas  or  tshibouks, 


MASSACKE   AT    ALLEPPO  51 

and  generally  taking  their  keyf  (comfort),  sitting 
cross-legged  for  hours  on  a  stool  without  uttering  a 
word  unless  spoken  to.  It  is  the  literal  carrying  out 
of  the  Italian  "dolce  far  niente"  (It  is  sweet  to  do 
nothing). 

Our  reception  at  the  barracks  was  commensurate 
with  the  exaggerated  ideas  the  people  of  Aleppo  had 
of  the  importance  of  Murad  Pasha's  coming  into  their 
midst.  The  general  impression  prevailed  that  he,  be- 
ing such  a  great  general,  was  sent  to  Aleppo  to  keep 
in  check  the  Arabs  from  their  periodical  incursions  into 
the  larger  towns  and  cities,  for  the  main  purpose  of 
pillaging  and  murdering  its  Christian  inhabitants.  I 
have  seen  it  stated  in  various  biographical  sketches  of 
General  Bern  that  he,  after  embracing  Mohammedan- 
ism, had  entered  the  Turkish  service.  Such,  however, 
was  not  the  case.  Up  to  his  death  in  1850,  he  remained 
the  honored  guest  of  Sultan  Abdul  Medjid,  receiving 
the  same  emoluments  which  a  pasha  of  the  highest 
rank  in  the  service  received,  namely,  that  of  a  mushir 
pasha,  which  corresponds  to  the  grade  of  lieutenant 
general  in  our  army. 

MASSACRE  AT  ALEPPO 

The  report  of  his  having  entered  the  Turkish  serv- 
ice must  have  originated  in  the  active  advice  he  ren- 
dered to  the  commanding  general  during  the  incursion 
and  insurrection  of  30,000  to  40,000  Arabs  and  Bed- 
ouins in  the  autumn  of  1850,  pillaging  and  killing 
indiscriminately  thousands  of  Christians.  At  the  out- 
break of  the  insurrection  he  moved  from  a  country 
house,  situated  in  one  of  the  surrounding  gardens,  back 


52  EEMINISCENCES 

to  the  barracks,  all  the  Hungarian  officers  following. 
It  was  just  in  time,  for  on  the  day  following  the  mur- 
dering hordes  of  Arabs  laid  siege  to  the  barracks, 
which  was  defended  by  but  3,000  to  4,000  men  and  two 
or  three  batteries  of  cannons.  Couriers  were  dispatched 
to  Constantinople,  Damascus,  and  other  points,  asking 
for  aid,  but  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances  at 
least  two  weeks  must  elapse  before  help  could  reach 
the  besieged  garrison.  The  Arabs  were  perfectly  aware 
of  this ;  hence  they  made  many  desperate  assaults.  It 
was  then  that  General  Bern  and  his  Hungai  ian  officers 
brought  their  military  knowledge  and  skill  into  play  to 
good  advantage,  for  each  assault  was  repelled  with 
the  discharge  of  shells  fired  at  close  range,  that  liter- 
ally covered  the  space  around  the  barracks  with  the 
dead  and  wounded  Arabs. 

DEATH  OF  GENERAL  BEM 

It  was  not  long  after  this  successful  putting  down 
of  the  Aleppo  rebellion  that  Murad  Pasha,  after  hav- 
ing received  the  thanks  of  the  Padisha,  moved  back  to 
his  country  place  in  the  gardens.  The  wounds  with 
which  his  body  was  literally  covered,  received  in  bat- 
tles fought  under  Napoleon  the  First,  in  the  Polish 
rebellion  of  1831,  and  the  Hungarian  war  of  1848  and 
1849,  began  to  tell  on  his  health.  He  was  taken  down 
with  a  violent  fever,  and  notwithstanding  the  efforts 
of  his  Hungarian  physician,  Dr.  Kallaszdy,  he  passed 
away  early  in  November,  1850.  He  was  buried  with 
all  the  military  honors  of  a  pasha  in  the  service  of 
the  Sultan,  and  a  tombstone  was  erected  by  the  Turk- 
ish government  to  his  memory,  which,  aside  from  the 


DEATH    OF   GENERAL   BEM  53 

exaggerated  language  Orientals  use  in  giving  ex- 
pression to  their  grief,  evidences  a  genuine  feeling  of 
regret  at  his  untimely  demise. 

I  have  in  my  possession  a  true  copy  in  Arabic  of 
this  inscription  on  General  Bern's  tombstone,  and  I 
will  here  give  a  few  extracts  from  the  same,  if  for  no 
other  purpose  than  to  show  how  deeply  he  was  revered 
by  the  Turkish  authorities. 

EXTRACTS   FROM   THE  INSCRIPTION   ON    GENERAL  BEM*S 
(MURAD  PASHA)  TOMBSTONE  AT  ALEPPO,  SYRIA 

"The  illustrious  Murad  Pasha,  who  sought  refuge 
with  the  Sublime  Porte,  having  renounced  his  former 
religion,  has  embraced  Mohammedanism. 

"Fortunate  are  the  mothers  who  carry  in  their 
womb  such  as  he.  But,  alas,  how  great  is  his  loss! 
Fate  (kismet)  destined  it  to  be  thus  with  this  great 
man.  Death  at  one  stroke  cut  off  the  thread  of  life 
of  this  illustrious  hero  in  the  city  of  Aleppo  (Halep). 

"That  the  magnanimity  of  Sultan  Abdul  Medjid 
Khan  be  heralded  through  all  the  world  as  the  divinely 
appointed  almoner  of  Providence.  May  that  Provi- 
dence accord  him  a  reign  replete  with  prosperity  and 
divine. 

"Helas!  His  great  heroic  deeds  and  his  bravery 
shall  never  be  effaced,  but  shall  be  written  down  in 
letters  of  gold  in  order  to  immortalize  his  grand 
achievements,  whose  history  will  be  written  by  sincere 
regrets  and  tears. 

"The  great  Allah,  whose  goodness  is  infinite,  has 
accorded  the  crown  of  glory  to  the  Illustrious  Murad 


54  BEMINISCENCES 

Pasha,  in  ceding  to  him  the  path  of  God's  elect,  which 
is  the  Jane  (the  Paradise  of  Mohammed"). 

Further  on  the  inscription  states  that  the  Magyar 
natives,  having  embraced  the  true  religion,  have  be- 
come martyrs,  etc.  But  I  have  quoted  a  sufficient  por- 
tion of  this  inscription  to  give  an  example  of  Oriental 
word  painting.  While  these  exaggerated  Oriental  ex- 
pressions of  grief  and  joy  over  his  conversion  to  the 
Moslem  faith  may  have  been  highly  gratifying  at  the 
time  to  his  friends  and  admirers,  they  were  not  needed 
to  place  the  memory  of  General  Bern  among  the  list  of 
great  and  successful  generals  of  any  age. 

TRIP  ACROSS  THE  SYRIAN  DESERT 

The  death  of  General  Bern  exerted  a  painful  im- 
pression on  the  officers  who  were  his  companions  in 
exile.  Many  of  them,  who  had  hoped  to  be  actually 
enrolled  in  the  Turkish  military  service,  had  now  be- 
come indifferent,  and  were  planning  to  seek  their  for- 
tunes either  in  Europe  or  America.  The  writer,  being 
then  only  20  years  old,  and  possessed  of  a  desire  for 
adventure,  accepted  a  proposition  to  enter  the  service 
as  lieutenant  aide-de-camp  to  the  Vali,  Emin  Pasha, 
governor  general  of  Syria,  with  headquarters  at  Da- 
mascus (Sham  in  Arabic).  This  offer  came  through 
the  kind  efforts  of  Mazzar  Bey,  a  colonel  in  the  army, 
and  who  acted  as  our  gaoler  during  our  residence  at 
Aleppo.  Mazzar  Bey,  who  had  enjoyed  a  military 
education  in  Berlin,  Prussia,  and  who  spoke  German 
quite  fluently,  was  a  kind-hearted  gentleman,  whose 
only  fault  consisted  of  an  inordinate  love  of  Raki  or 
mastic,  as  the  vile  stuff  was  called,  in  which  he  in- 


THIP   ACROSS    THE    SYEIAN   DESEBT  55 

dulged  too  often,  in  violation  of  the  interdiction  which 
every  true  Musselman  is  bound  to  observe.  The  col- 
onel, after  previously  providing  me  with  a  complete 
cavalry  lieutenant's  outfit,  had  me  attached  to  a  troop 
of  cavalry,  who  were  bound  for  Damascus. 

During  the  two  weeks  which  it  took  to  traverse 
the  distance  between  Aleppo  and  Damascus,  I  learned 
more  of  Oriental  life  than  I  ever  knew  before.  In 
order  to  avoid  unpleasant  remarks,  I  had  to  conform 
myself  to  all  the  social  and  religious  customs  of  my 
Mohammedan  escorts.  These  customs,  although  some 
of  them  border  almost  on  the  ridiculous,  are  far  from 
being  onerous.  I  shall  here  briefly  describe  our  doings 
of  the  day. 

Long  before  the  sun  rose  the  reveille  was  sounded 
and  the  cavalcade  wag  made  ready  to  march.  During 
the  march  we  had  no  camels  to  carry  our  baggage  and 
provisions,  but  pack  horses,  which  in  the  desert  are 
poor  substitutes  for  the  ships  of  the  desert.  At  sun- 
rise we  halted  at  some  well  or  cistern  and  unpacked 
our  provisions.  We  carried  no  tents,  but  bivouacked 
in  the  open,  and  under  the  shade  of  trees,  if  possible. 
After  making  our  ablutions,  we  offered  our  prayers  by 
prostrating  ourselves  with  bended  knees  on  a  little 
rug,  which  every  soldier  carries  with  him  for  that 
purpose.  The  prayer  consists  of  facing  towards  Mecca 
in  the  east,  touching  the  ground  five  times  with  our 
lips,  and  repeating  seven  times  the  bismillah,  which  is 
something  similar  to  our  Lord's  prayer.  After  prayer, 
breakfast  was  prepared,  consisting  of  bread  of  the 
pancake  shape,  onions,  dates,  and  half  a,  dozen  minia- 
ture cups  of  coffee.  The  balance  of  the  day  was  spent 


56  REMINISCENCES 

in  playing  checkers  or  backgammon,  and  in  sleep. 
Late  in  the  afternoon  the  cook  began  the  preparation 
of  the  main  meal  of  the  day.  If,  perchance,  we  bivou- 
acked near  a  hamlet,  a  sheep  was  bought  and  killed. 
The  whole  carcass  was  then  either  put  into  a  large 
caldron  which  we  carried  along  with  us  in  our  bag- 
gage, and  boiled  with  the  rice  which  was  cooking,  or 
else  it  was  broiled  on  a  large  spit  before  a  big  roaring 
fire  made  of  dried  sheep  dung,  and  afterward  pulled 
to  pieces  and  put  into  the  caldron  that  contained  the 
pilav  (rice).  The  cooked  meal  was  now  divided  and 
placed  into  big  round  wooden  troughs,  so  that  about 
ten  to  twelve  could  sit  around  each  trough.  I  do  not 
remember  whether  we  were  provided  with  little  two 
feet  high  tables  or  not,  but  all  Turkish  meals  are  placed 
on  these  little  stands  if  they  can  be  had;  if  not,  then 
the  food  is  placed  on  a  rug  spread  on  the  ground.  Of 
course  another  ablution  and  prayer  took  place  before 
the  meal. 

A  true  Mohammedan  washes  and  prays  five  times 
during  every  twenty-four  hours.  The  ablutions  with 
the  well-to-do  and  the  rich  Mohammedan  are  very 
ceremonious  affairs.  While  one  attendant  pours  water 
from  a  silver  ewer  on  the  arms  and  hands,  into  a  silver 
basin  which  is  held  by  another,  a  third  one  holds  a 
Turkish  towel  ready  for  use.  That  the  ablutions  have 
become  mainly  a  ceremony  established  by  long  custom, 
is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  whenever  the  true  be- 
liever can  find  no  water,  as  is  often  the  case  in  the 
desert,  he  uses  sand  wherewith  to  go  through  the  cere- 
mony of  washing  his  arms,  hands  and  feet. 

Whenever  the  time  for  prayer  comes,  and  if  in  a 


TRIP   ACROSS    THE   SYRIAN    DESEKT  57 

city  or  town,  when  he  hears  the  Immam  (priest)  call 
from  the  top  of  a  minaret:  "Pray,  pray.  The  hour  is 
running  fast  and  the  judgment  draws  near,"  no  matter 
where  he  may  find  himself  at  the  time,  he  prostrates 
himself  five  times  and  murmurs  his  prayers.  The  de- 
vout Musselman  constantly  counts  his  beads,  like  the 
devout  Catholic.  But,  as  the  Frenchman  says :  "Reve- 
nons  a  nos  moutons." 

Invariably  before  every  dinner,  which  means  the 
evening  meal,  we  had  chorba,  a  kind  of  a  soup  in 
which,  besides  rice,  various  kinds  of  vegetables,  such 
as  gumbo,  onions  and  such  like  were  mixed.  After 
chorba,  which  was  partaken  from  a  common  large 
bowl  with  wooden  spoons,  the  pilav  and  the  meat  were 
put  before  us.  There  were  no  knives  and  forks,  but 
each  one  put  the  three  first  fingers  of  his  right  hand 
into  the  dish  and  fished  out  at  random  whatever  came 
in  his  way.  Now  and  then  a  choice  morsel  of  meat 
was  pushed  between  the  writer's  teeth  by  a  neighbor, 
who  in  this  odd  manner  wished  to  show  his  good  will 
toward  him. 

Although  the  distance  between  Aleppo  and  Damas- 
cus is  not  more  than  250  miles,  it  took  us  fourteen  days 
to  traverse  it.  The  country  at  that  time  was  barren  of 
all  signs  of  life,  either  vegetable  or  animal,  except 
where  the  wells  or  cisterns  containing  water  had 
formed  an  oasis  with  a  few  clumps  of  trees,  and  occa- 
sionally a  hamlet,  consisting  of  a  few  mud  houses,  was 
visible.  Some  of  these  hamlets  were  the  abodes  of 
Bedouin  chiefs,  who  had  their  konaks  (palaces)  and 
harems  there.  These  chiefs  were  violently  inimical  to 


58  EEMINISCENCES 

the  Turkish  government,  and  in  some  instances  refused 
us  permission  to  establish  our  camp  around  these  wells. 

ARRIVAL   AT  DAMASCUS 

We  at  last  reached  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  our 
tedious  journey,  just  after  sunrise,  the  crescent  of  a 
hill,  whence  a  most  beautiful  panorama  of  Damascus 
in  the  distance  greeted  our  eyes.  No  wonder  that  the 
Prophet  Mohammed,  on  beholding  Sham  (Damascus) 
from  this  hill,  refused  to  enter  it,  saying,  as  the  Arab 
legends  have  it  :  "I  prefer  to  enter  paradise  in  heaven, 
therefore  I  will  not  enter  into  this  earthly  paradise." 

After  Mecca  and  Medina,  Damascus  or  Sham  (Holy 
city),  as  the  Osmanli  designate  it,  is  the  most  fre- 
quented place  of  Mohammedan  pilgrimage  in  the  Turk- 
ish empire.  There  are  numerous  shrines  all  over  the 
city  where  the  devout  Musselmen  prostrate  themselves 
invoking  the  aid  of  some  biblical  patriarch  or  Moham- 
medan saint. 

On  arriving  at  Damascus  we  went  straight  to  the 
barracks,  where  thousands  of  troops  of  all  branches  of 
the  service  were  quartered.  It  was  not  long  before 
some  Hungarian  exiles,  who  had  entered  the  Turkish 
military  service,  called  on  me.  The  news  that  one  of 
Murad  Pasha's  followers  had  arrived  from  Aleppo  had 
reached  them  the  very  same  day  of  our  arrival.  The 
accounts  given  me  by  my  compatriot  callers  of  their 
experiences  threw  a  cold  blanket  over  my  enthusiastic 
expectations. 

After  paying  my  respects  to  the  colonel  command- 
ing at  the  barracks  I  accompanied  him  to  the  konak  of 
the  vali  (the  palace  of  the  governor  general).  After 


AERIVAL   AT   DAMASCUS  59 

entering  the  selamlik  (reception  room)  we  were  asked 
to  take  a  seat  on  one  of  the  many  ottomans  placed 
around  the  room.  While  waiting  for  the  appearance 
of  the  Pasha,  who  by  the  way  was  a  brother-in-law  of 
Sultan  Abdul  Medjid,  we  were  regaled  with  coffee 
served  in  tiny  china  cups  with  silver  holders,  and  long 
stemmed  cherry  wood  tshibouks,  whose  mouthpieces 
were  of  the  purest  amber,  and  a  ring  composed  of  bril- 
liants surrounded  the  part  that  joined  the  stem  to  the 
mouthpiece. 

The  luxurious  surroundings  which  I  saw  here  in  the 
governor  general's  palace,  I  was  afterwards  told,  could 
give  me  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  magnificence  of  the 
Sultan's  numerous  seraglios. 

The  retinue,  including  tschibouk  bearers,  caffedjiras 
who  prepared  the  coffee,  and  other  menial  servants 
who  were  waiting  on  this  Pasha,  must  have  been  at 
least  thirty  in  number,  while  those  of  the  Sultan  under 
the  old  regime  exceeded  one  hundred.  While  some 
members  of  this  Pasha's  retinue  were  entered  into  the 
Turkish  military  service  as  milazima  (lieutenants),  jus 
pashas  (captains),  and  bimbashis  (majors),  and  draw- 
ing their  monthly  stipends  from  the  imperial  treasury, 
the  Sultan's  retinue  contained  many  Pashas  who  drew 
their  stipend  from  the  same  source.  For  instance,  the 
black  chief  Eunuch  of  the  Sultan's  harem,  who  is  called 
Kizlar  Agha,  has  the  pay  and  rank  of  a  Pasha  of  three 
tughs  (horse  tails),  and  so  has  the  bostanji  (chief 
gardener)  of  the  many  palaces.  Then  there  is  the 
Pasha  whose  duty  is  to  taste  all  the  food  prepared  for 
the  Sultan,  and  many  others  too  numerous  to  mention. 

After  a  short  interview  with  the  governor  general 


60  REMINISCENCES 

he  directed  the  commandant  of  the  barracks  to  take 
care  of  me  at  the  barracks,  intimating  to  him  privately, 
as  I  afterwards  learned,  that  he  would  have  me  accom- 
pany him  on  the  hegira  which  he  was  soon  to  lead  to 
the  Hedjaz,  the  Holy  Land  of  Mecca  and  Medina,  and 
where  I  would  be  enabled  to  drink  the  celebrated  Zam 
Zam  water  at  its  original  source,  instead  of  getting  an 
occasional  taste  given  to  me  by  a  returned  Hadji,  which 
is  anything  but  pleasant  to  either  palate  or  nostrils. 

While  waiting  for  the  pleasure  of  my  new  master 
I  spent  the  days  and  weeks  and  months  in  exploring 
Damascus  and  getting  acquainted  with  many  of  its 
inhabitants. 

CITY  OF  DAMASCUS 

The  city  of  Damascus  lies  about  60  miles  south- 
east of  Beyrout,  which  is  its  port  on  the  Mediterranean 
sea.  The  two  rivers,  Barada  and  Abana,  which  in  the 
bible  are  referred  to  as  Abana  and  Pharphar,  furnish 
the  water  to  the  miles  and  miles  of  orchards  and  gar- 
dens that  surround  the  city.  Numerous  canals,  lead- 
ing from  these  rivers  to  different  parts  of  the  city, 
furnish  water — the  great  desideratum  of  Oriental  life — 
to  the  numberless  public  as  well  as  private  fountains, 
and  to  the  orchards  and  gardens.  The  manner  in  which 
the  water  is  elevated  into  these  canals  is  quite  primitive 
and  must  antedate  the  Christian  era.  A  dam  of  solid 
masonry  is  extended  out  from  the  shore,  so  as  to 
accumulate  the  water  to  three  or  four  feet  deep,  as 
the  case  may  be.  Below  the  dam  a  huge  wheel,  with 
very  poorly  constructed  buckets,  that  elevate  and 
empty  the  water  into  the  canals,  is  placed.  Similar 


CITY   OF    DAMASCUS  61 

wheels  by  the  hundreds  may  be  seen  on  the  Euphrates 
between  Adana  and  Basra  on  the  Persian  gulf. 

I  spent  a  good  deal  of  my  leisure  time  sitting  at 
the  front  of  some  coffee  houses  on  the  broad  street  re- 
ferred to  in  the  bible  as  the  Straight  street.  I  also 
visited  the  spot  called  the  House  of  Judas,  where  Saul 
was  converted  and  his  sight  restored  by  Annanias. 

But  nevertheless  life  in  the  barracks  became  bur- 
densome. I  yearned  after  a  more  active  life.  I  at- 
tended all  the  drills  and  the  evening  parades  of  the 
troops,  where  the  words  "Padisha  choke  yashar"  (long 
life  to  the  Sultan)  were  repeated  in  stentorian  tones 
day  after  day  by  thousands  of  soldiers  at  the  close  of 
the  parade  and  before  breaking  ranks.  The  Turkish 
women,  who  by  the  hundreds  were  sitting  around  in 
the  gardens,  eating  pistachios  and  who  coquettishly 
withdrew  just  enough  of  their  veil  (yashmak)  to  expose 
their  eyes,  the  brows  of  which  were  blackened  by 
surmer,  a  kind  of  black  dye,  and  their  hair  dyed  with 
henna,  had  no  attraction  for  me.  I  was  longing  for 
freedom.  I  pictured  to  myself,  in  case  I  should  enter 
the  Turkish  service,  my  early  ambition  to  study  the 
world  in  its  higher  aspect  as  entirely  frustrated.  Then 
I  received  letters  from  Aleppo  informing  me  that  Kos- 
suth  and  his  fellow  exiles  were  about  to  leave  Kutaiah 
and  embark  on  the  U.  S.  war  steamer  Mississippi  for 
the  United  States,  and  that  my  friend  and  benefactor, 
General  Kmetty,  and  all  the  Hungarian  officers  who 
were  with  him  at  Aleppo,  had  applied  to  be  released. 
I  was  seized  with  an  irresistible  desire  to  leave  Turkey 
and  go  back  to  civilization.  I  accordingly  craved  an 
interview  with  the  governor  general,  which  after  a  few 


62  REMINISCENCES 

days'  waiting  was  granted  to  me.  I  told  his  excellency 
the  truth  about  my  being  homesick,  which  I  had  not 
experienced  until  now,  when  I  saw  that  all  my  com- 
patriots had  left  Turkey  and  gone  to  the  jeni  duenja, 
the  new  world,  as  the  Turks  call  the  United  States. 
The  Pasha  was  surprisingly  affable;  told  me  to  keep 
the  uniform  which  he  had  had  expressly  made  for  me, 
besides  ordering  his  purser  to  pay  to  me  the  month's 
salary  to  be  due  in  a  few  days,  and  instructed  his  aide 
to  furnish  me  with  transportation  back  to  Aleppo, 
whence  I  came,  and  where  he  was  in  duty  bound  to 
send  me  back.  He  evidently  had  instructions  from 
Constantinople  not  to  place  any  impediments  in  the 
way  of  any  Hungarian  refugees  who  wished  to  quit 
the  Turkish  empire. 

Arrived  at  Aleppo.  I  found  to  my  greatest  regret 
that  all  the  Hungarian  refugees,  with  the  exception  of 
General  Kmetty,  Captain  Tolt  and  his  wife,  and  Baron 
Stein,  had  already  left  on  their  way  to  the  United 
States.  General  Kmetty,  who  in  1857  and  1858  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  the  brave  defense  of  Kars 
against  the  Russians,  and  who  afterwards  was  relieved 
by  the  English  general  Sir  Fenwick  Williams,  was  not 
quite  ready  to  go.  He  kindly  introduced  me  to  the 
English  consul-general,  Mr.  Verny,  who  furnished  me 
with  a  passport  designating  me  as  a  protege  of  her 
majesty,  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain.  I  had  also  se- 
cured a  Turkish  passport  with  the  toogra  (the  Sultan's 
signature)  which  is  on  all  official  documents. 

Having  secured  these  necessary  papers  and  laid 
into  my  haversack  a  fair  supply  of  provisions,  I  bid 
good  bye  to  Aleppo,  where  I  had  spent  nigh  two  years 


CITY   OF   DAMASCUS  63 

as  the  Sultan's  guest,  and  where  I  came  into  posses- 
sion of  the  celebrated  "Button  of  Halep."  Every  in- 
habitant of  the  Aleppo  vilayet  and  every  visitor  to  the 
city  and  its  surroundings,  even  if  his  stop  be  of  a  few 
hours  only,  is  liable  to  be  attacked  by  an  eruption  of 
the  skin,  with  some  fever  attending  it,  that  leaves  a 


TOOGRA   (SIGNATURE  OF  THE  PADISHA). 

mark  somewhat  like  a  smallpox  mark.  The  attack  is 
more  severe  on  the  natives,  who  invariably  have  their 
faces  pockmarked,  so  that  some  of  the  handsomest 
women  become  thus  disfigured. 

After  a  weary  horseback  ride,  passing  through  La- 
takia,  where  the  famous  Turkish  tobacco  comes  from, 
we  reached  Tripoli,  on  the  Mediterranean.  Captain 
Tolt,  who  formerly  was  captain  in  my  battalion  (the 
55th,)  with  his  charming  wife,  were  the  only  two  Hun- 
garians of  our  party.  It  was  our  intention  to  take  an 
Arab  sloop  for  Beyrout,  where  we  hoped  to  engage 
passage  for  London  or  Liverpool,  England.  We  rested 
a  couple  of  days  at  Tripoli,  when  we  learned  from  our 
landlord,  who  was  a  Christian,  that  a  sloop  would  sail 


64  BEMINISCENCES 

on  the  same  evening  for  Bey  rout.  We  gladly  engaged 
passage  in  this  Arab  yacht,  with  but  two  sails  and 
without  a  single  cabin  on  deck  or  anywhere  else.  Dur- 
ing the  first  few  hours  our  boat  went  on  swimmingly, 
but  when  the  wind  changed  and  became  contrary  to 
our  course,  it  became  unmanageable  and  we  were 
tossed  to  and  fro  all  night  by  the  big  waves  that 
washed  the  deck  and  drenched  us  to  the  skin.  The 
captain  of  the  boat,  with  a  crew  of  two  Arabs,  spent 
most  of  the  time  praying  to  Allah  to  save  us  from 
being  drowned.  When  finally  the  first  g'impse  of  the 
coming  day  appeared,  we  beheld  in  the  distance  a  city 
we  took  for  Beyrout.  But,  alas,  we  were  soon  dis- 
illusioned on  the  captain  telling  us  that  the  town  we 
saw  was  Tripoli,  the  place  we  had  started  from  the 
night  before,  and  that  we  were  some  ten  miles  the 
other  side  from  our  starting  place.  It  was  noon  before 
we  were  landed  again.  We  then  decided  to  take  the 
land  road  to  Beyrout.  After  much  wrangling  and  par- 
leying, the  captain  of  the  sloop  returned  most  of  the 
fare  we  had  paid  him. 

After  a  tedious  journey  of  several  days  on  the  rocky 
road  of  the  anti  Lebanon,  we  finally  reached  our  desti- 
nation, where  we  were  to  take  passage  either  to  Eng- 
land or  the  United  States.  My  friend,  Captain  Tolt, 
and  his  wife,  having  more  money  than  I  had,  parted 
company  with  me  and  took  passage  direct  for  Boston, 
where  in  after  years  the  captain  kept  a  very  fashion- 
able riding  school.  I  waited  for  a  steamer  to  take  me 
to  Alexandria,  Egypt,  where  I  would  stand  a  better 
chance  of  securing  passage  for  either  England  or 
America,  and  at  a  cheaper  rate. 


PART  III. 

ALEXANDRIA,   EGYPT 

As  far  as  my  recollection  reaches,  back  to  the  time 
when  poring  over  the  history  of  Egypt,  the  Pharaohs 
of  the  bible,  the  Ptolemies,  and  the  celebrated  Cleo- 
patra and  her  intrigues  with  Mark  Anthony,  Alexan- 
dria next  to  Jerusalem  was  the  one  city  which  I  desired 
most  to  see.  My  desire,  through  the  inscrutable  work- 
ings of  divine  principle,  had  now  become  a  reality,  but 
however  strong  was  my  desire  to  spend  sufficient  time 
in  this  most  interesting  city,  so  replete  with  archeolog- 
ical  subjects,  I  could  not  do  so.  My  exchequer  con- 
taining only  a  small  portion  of  the  meager  milazin 
(lieutenant)  salary  which  I  received  as  the  guest  of 
Sultan  Abdul  Medjid,  I  could  but  hurriedly  visit  some 
of  the  many  interesting  places  in  the  city  and  its  sur- 
roundings. What  interested  me  most  was  the  monu- 
ment called  "Pompey's  Pillar."  Next  in  interest  to 
me  were  the  two  obelisks  called  "Cleopatra's  Needles," 
one  standing  upright,  while  its  companion  was  half 
buried  in  the  sand  that  has  been  covering  it  these 
many  centuries.  Since  my  seeing  it  there,  it  has  been 
presented  to  the  city  of  New  York  by  the  father  of 
the  present  Khedive,  and  may  be  seen  now  in  Central 
Park,  New  York. 

The  population  of  Alexandria  is  now  said  to  be 
65 


66  REMINISCENCES 

about  300,000.  Sixty  years  ago,  when  the  writer  was 
there,  there  could  not  have  been  more  than  50,000. 
Modern  civilization  had  not  as  yet  made  its  inroads  on 
Oriental  customs  and  its  people.  At  that  time  there 
was  not  a  single  rail  in  Egypt.  In  fact,  traveling  by 
wheels  of  any  kind  was  unknown.  The  only  carriage 
in  the  whole  country  was  the  one  owned  by  the  then 
Khedive,  Ismael  Pasha.  There  was  no  regular  mail 
deliveries  in  the  Turkish  Empire.  Letters  were  sent 
and  received  irregularly,  either  by  steamer  or  by  pony 
express,  which  was  maintained  by  the  Government. 
While  a  resident  at  Aleppo  and  Damascus,  the  writer 
thought  himself  lucky  if  he  could  send  a  letter  to 
Hungary  and  receive  a  reply  within  two  or  three 
months.  But  why  dwell  on  the  past?  Progress  has 
been  and  still  is  the  battle  cry  of  civilization,  and 
Alexandria's  progress  within  the  last  sixty  years  to 
its  commercial  importance  is  no  greater  marvel  than 
that  of  thousands  of  other  cities  all  over  the  globe. 

There  is  no  country  in  the  world  whose  history  is 
of  more  interest  to  the  student  of  the  world's  history 
than  Egypt.  Aside  from  the  Bible  accounts  which  we 
have  of  Egypt,  and  the  Pharaohs,  who  for  centuries 
kept  the  children  of  Israel  in  bondage,  it  has  produced 
a  race  of  men  which  find  no  parallel  in  all  history.  I 
refer  to  the  Mameluks,  who  from  a  state  of  abject 
slavery  became  the  rulers  of  Egypt  and  who  defeated 
the  crusaders  under  Saint  Louis  and  of  whom  after 
the  battle  of  the  Pyramids,  the  great  Napoleon  said 
that  "they  were  the  bravest  body  of  cavalry  he  had 
ever  encountered." 

After  a  few  days'  sight  seeing,  I  embarked  on  an 


ABKIVAL    IN    ENGLAND  67 

English  tramp  freight  steamer  bound  for  Bristol,  Eng- 
land, where,  after  landing  at  Tangiers  (Morocco)  and 
Gibraltar,  we  arrived  after  a  nearly  two  weeks'  jour- 
ney. 

ARRIVAL    IN    ENGLAND 

Never,  as  long  as  my  memory  may  last,  shall  I 
forget  the  reception  accorded  to  me  by  one  of  Albion's 
citizen  families,  named  Jeffries,  at  Bristol.  The  third 
mate  of  the  steamer  that  brought  me  to  Bristol  was 
a  son  of  this  Mr.  Jeffries.  He  was  a  young  man  of 
generous  impulses,  and  he  insisted  that  I  should  make 
his  home  my  home  while  in  that  city.  The  few  days 
which  I  spent  with  this  family  acted  on  my  pessi- 
mistic reflections  on  life  in  general  as  the  Balm  of 
Gilead,  for  I  was  accorded  all  the  love  a  son  could  ex- 
pect to  receive  from  his  doting  family. 

LONDON 

Arrived  in  this  metropolis  of  the  world,  a  feeling 
of  despair  took  possession  of  me.  I  thought  what  a 
gigantic  maelstrom  is  this  city,  composed  of  hundreds 
of  miles  of  streets,  with  its  millions  of  inhabitants,  to 
be  tossed  into  and  engulfed.  Shall  I  ever  succeed  in 
asserting  my  own  individuality  among  the  millions 
to  whom  I  am  entirely  unknown?  The  generosity  of 
the  British  Government,  however,  soon  dispelled  all 
my  fears,  for  on  calling  on  my  countryman,  Count 
Esterhazy,  whose  address  was  given  me  by  General 
Kmetty  in  Aleppo,  he  directed  me  to  a  hotel  on  Tra- 
falgar Square,  where  many  of  my  exiled  countrymen 
found  lodgings.  Lord  Palmerston  and  Lord  John  Rus- 


68  BEMINISCENCES 

sell  were  then  at  the  helm  of  the  British  Government, 
and  their  kind  treatment  of  the  Hungarian  refugees 
who  found  hospitable  shelter  on  Albion's  soil,  will 
forever  produce  a  feeling  of  intense  gratitude  within 
my  breast  towards  those  two  great  leaders,  as  well 
as  to  the  British  nation. 

After  a  five  weeks'  sojourn  in  London,  and  after 
all  hopes  had  been  abandoned  of  our  immediate  return 
to  Hungary  as  invaders,  some  forty  of  us,  all  Hun- 
garian exiles,  embarked  at  London  on  the  American 
clipper  "Cornelius  Grinnell,"  commanded  by  Captain 
Fletcher.  After  a  four  weeks'  sail,  we  arrived  at  New 
York  on  the  1st  of  May,  1852.  The  city,  although  not 
of  the  magnitude  of  London,  produced  a  deep  im- 
pression on  me,  as  it  was  the  first  Republican  soil  my 
feet  had  ever  touched.  It  was  the  fulfillment  of  all 
my  youthful  dreams.  My  great  leader,  Louis  Kossuth, 
had  been  in  the  city  for  some  weeks,  and  with  his  in- 
flaming oratory  had  aroused  the  greatest  enthusiasm. 
Excitement  was  also  increased  during  those  days  by 
the  concerts  given  by  the  celebrated  Jenny  Lind  at 
Castle  Garden,  the  only  hall  available  then  in  New 
York. 

In  my  sketch  of  Louis  Kossuth  I  mentioned  my 
having  met  him  at  the  Irwing  House,  and  of  the  kind 
treatment  I  received  at  his  hands.  I  will  merely  state 
that  after  the  cartridge  factory  or  Moringville,  N.  Y., 
was  definitely  closed,  I  returned  to  New  York.  In 
starting  that  factory,  Kossuth's  main  object  was  to 
give  employment  to  his  fellow  exiles,  who  were  thrown 
among  strangers  without  any  means  of  support  and 
without  understanding  the  language  of  the  country. 


HARTFORD,   CONN.  69 

On  my  return  from  Moringville  to  New  York,  I 
immediately  decided  to  leave  the  city  for  the  interior, 
where,  isolated  from  the  surrounding  foreign  elements, 
I  might  more  easily  learn  the  English  language. 

HARTFORD,  CONN.      WORK  IN  A  CLOCK  FACTORY. 

My  first  abiding  place  in  the  interior  was  Hartford, 
Conn.,  which  I  reached  by  steamer  during  the  summer 
of  1852.  •  After  a  short  stay  in  Hartford  I  went  to 
Bristol,  Conn.,  where  I  secured  employment  in  the  clock 
factory  of  Terry,  Downs  and  Burrell.  Having  secured 
an  abiding  place  in  the  family  of  the  village  custom 
miller,  I  started  in  to  acquire  English.  As  I  was  en- 
gaged during  the  daytime  in  the  factory,  I  studied  dur- 
ing the  night  by  candle  light,  sitting  up  as  late  as  eleven 
and  twelve  o'clock.  I  was  particularly  fortunate  in 
having  found  work  in  this  clock  factory,  for  Mrs. 
Downs,  the  wife  of  one  of  the  members  of  the  firm, 
being  a  highly  cultivated  woman,  after  having  learned 
my  history  and  my  object  in  securing  work  in  a  factory, 
invited  me  to  her  house,  where  I  was,  during  my  whole 
stay  in  Bristol,  a  welcome  guest.  She  took  great  pains 
in  correcting  my  pronunciation  and  grammatical  con- 
struction in  the  English  language. 

While  a  resident  of  Bristol  I  visited  New  Britain, 
where  I  became  acquainted  with  the  principal  of  the 
Normal  School,  Prof.  Philbrick,  through  whose  kind 
efforts  I  secured  a  class  composed  of  young  ladies, 
pupils  of  the  school,  whom  I  taught  French.  The  in- 
congruity of  a  factory  hand  teaching  French  in  a  Nor- 
mal School  soon  became  apparent  to  me,  so  I  decided 
to  give  up  my  factory  work  and  change  my  domicile 


70  REMINISCENCES 

from  Bristol  to  Hartford,  where  the  wider  sphere 
would  secure  me  a  larger  field  in  which  to  pursue  the 
vocation  I  determined  to  follow,  namely,  that  of  a 
teacher  of  French  and  German. 

Of  my  life  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  Springfield, 
Mass.,  I  can  enumerate  only  a  few  of  the  families 
where  I  always  was  a  welcome  guest,  and  where  I 
was  invited  to  attend  many  social  functions.  Mr. 
Henry  Barnard,  at  the  time  Superintendent  of  Public 
Instruction  in  Connecticut,  treated  me  as  if  I  had  been 
his  son.  Years  after  I  had  been  a  resident  of  Chicago, 
and  when  he  had  been  appointed  National  Commis- 
sioner of  Education,  the  good  man  hunted  me  up  and 
expressed  his  gratification  at  seeing  me  prosperous  in 
business.  Besides  Mr.  Barnard,  I  counted  among 
my  friends  Mrs.  Ross  and  her  charming  young  daugh- 
ter, the  Bulkleys,  the  Cheneys  (especially  Ralph 
Cheney). 

In  Springfield,  Mass.,  I  received  nothing  but  kind- 
ness at  the  hands  of  the  Merriam  Bros.,  publishers  of 
Webster's  Unabridged  Dictionary.  I  also  enjoyed  the 
distinguished  friendship  of  Rev.  Samuel  W.  Long- 
fellow, who  when  I  took  leave  of  him,  presented  me 
with  a  manuscript  of  the  "Psalm  of  Life,"  signed  by 
his  brother,  Henry  W.  Longfellow;  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Tiffany,  who  was  one  of  my  pupils;  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Humphrey,  and  many  other  worthy  people  of  both 
cities,  whose  kind  words  and  deeds  will  never  be  ef- 
faced from  the  memory  of  the  Hungarian  exile. 

One  of  my  most  interesting  reminiscences  of  Hart- 
ford is  my  acquaintance  with  the  Rev.  W.  F.  Wil- 
liams, Missionary  to  Mossul  Assyria,  who  believed 


GOING  WEST  71 

himself  to  be  the  lost  Dauphin  of  France,  having  been 
spirited  away  from  the  Temple  where  he  was  incar- 
cerated, and  taken  to  the  United  States,  where  he  was 
entrusted  to  the  care  of  an  Indian  chief.  However 
this  might  have  been,  I  know  that  he  was  honest  in 
his  belief. 

GOING  WEST 

Toward  the  spring  of  1855, 1  realized  that  teaching 
languages  and  being  lionized,  while  very  gratifying  to 
the  senses,  would  not  secure  for  me  permanent  means 
of  livelihood  that  I  could  depend  on  in  case  of  illness 
or  any  other  unforeseen  accident.  I  concluded  to  go 
West,  and  my  first  intended  destination  was  St.  Louis, 
then  a  sturdily  growing  city  of  the  Middle  West.  I 
took  the  Michigan  Central  road  to  Chicago,  the  only 
through  route  between  New  York,  Boston  and  the 
West.  After  a  day  of  sightseeing  at  Niagara  Falls, 
which  filled  me  with  awe  and  wonder,  I  stopped  at 
Detroit,  where  I  delivered  a  letter  of  introduction  to 
Mr.  Van  Dyke,  a  prominent  citizen  of  that  city,  the 
walls  of  whose  residence  were  literally  covered  with 
gems  of  paintings  by  the  celebrated  Dutch  artist,  Van 
Dyke.  He,  however,  disclaimed  any  relationship  to 
that  distinguished  painter. 

The  trip  from  Detroit  to  Chicago  was  of  much 
longer  duration  in  1855  than  it  is  now.  If  my  memory 
serves  me  right,  I  left  Detroit  in  the  forenoon  and 
reached  Chicago  the  following  morning.  As  Mr.  Pull- 
man in  those  days  was  still  unheard  of,  the  three  nights 
I  spent  on  my  trip  from  Springfield,  Mass.,  to  Chicago 
were  not  such  as  to  make  a  lasting  favorable  impres- 


72  BEMIN1SCENCES 

sion  on  me.  I  was  glad  to  behold  Chicago,  in  the  same 
sense  as  a  seasick  person  rejoices  when  he  espies  terra 
firma. 

ARRIVAL  IN  CHICAGO 

Arrived  in  Chicago  in  the  evening,  I  took  lodgings 
in  the  Sherman  House,  situated  on  the  same  site  on 
which  the  present  palatial  20-story  hotel  building 
stands,  on  the  corner  of  Randolph  and  Clark  streets. 
In  1855  the  Sherman  House  was  the  next  best  to  the 
Tremont  House.  It  was  an  ordinary  red-painted  frame 
building,  and  like  all  hotels  in  those  days,  was  kept 
on  the  American  plan. 

After  a  good  night's  rest,  the  following  morning  I 
wound  my  way  to  Mrs.  Haight's  boarding  house,  to 
deliver  a  letter  given  me  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tiffany  to 
his  friend,  Dr.  Charles  Oilman  Smith,  a  fellow  gradu- 
ate of  Harvard,  who  took  his  day  board  at  Mrs. 
Haight's,  while  he  lodged  in  a  room  connected  with 
his  office.  As  St.  Louis  was  my  ultimate  destination, 
I  did  not  intend  to  prolong  my  stay  in  Chicago  more 
than  a  couple  of  days,  but  that  which  followed  proved 
the  truth  of  the  Scotch  poet's  saying:  "The  best  laid 
schemes  o'  mice  and  men  gang  aft  agley." 

On  delivering  my  letter  of  introduction  to  Dr. 
Smith,  he  received  me  with  great  warmth,  coming  as 
I  did  recommended  by  his  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tiffany, 
who  had  been  my  pupil  in  German.  He  at  once  began 
to  persuade  me  not  to  go  any  further  West,  but  to 
make  Chicago  my  home.  He  introduced  me  to  a 
gentleman  by  the  name  of  Mr.  Hitt,  who  is  now  a 
resident  of  Washington  Heights.  This  Mr.  Hitt  was 


ARKIVAL  IN    CHICAGO  73 

paying  teller  in  the  bank  of  R.  K.  Swift,  a  very  popu- 
lar and  eccentric  gentleman.  Mr.  Hitt  offered  to  take 
me  to  the  office  of  a  Mr.  Jonathan  Young  Scammon, 
who  besides  being  at  the  head  of  the  law  firm  of  Scam- 
mon &  McCagg,  was  also  president  of  the  Marine  Bank, 
the  largest  bank  corporation  then  West  of  New  York. 
Dr.  Smith  described  Mr.  Scammon  as  a  gentleman 
very  much  interested  in  Hungarian  exiles,  and  that 
he  had  a  tutor  for  his  son  Charles,  by  the  name  of 
Professor  Breck,  a  Hungarian  exile.  After  having 
been  introduced  to  Mr.  Scammon  in  his  law  office, 
corner  of  LaSalle  and  Lake  streets,  and  on  Mr.  Hitt 
informing  him  of  the  object  of  his  errand,  Mr.  Scam- 
mon immediately  offered  me  a  position  either  in  his  law 
office  or  in  the  Marine  Bank.  After  a  few  moment's  re- 
flection I  decided  to  accept  a  position  in  his  law  office. 
Thus  twenty-four  hours  had  hardly  expired  before  I 
had  secured  a  position,  the  first  business  position  I 
had  ever  held. 

I  was  particularly  fortunate  in  securing  a  position  so 
soon  after  my  arrival  in  Chicago,  for  during  that  spring 
of  1855  this  city  was  not  the  most  desirable  place  for 
a  naturalized  citizen  to  come  to,  it  was  under  the  do- 
minion of  the  Knownothing  party,  which  attempted 
to  deny  all  rights  and  privileges  to  the  foreign  born 
citizens  which  the  native  born  enjoyed ;  Levi  D.  Boone, 
an  avowed  Knownothing,  and  who  subsequently,  as 
alleged,  was  at  heart  a  sympathizer  with  the  secession- 
ists of  the  south,  was  the  Mayor  just  elected.  This 
was  also  the  spring  of  the  great  beer  riots. 

On  reaching  Chicago,  I  was  surprised  to  find  here 
Captain  Martin  Koszta,  who  during  the  Hungarian 


74  REMINISCENCES 

war  of  liberation  commanded  a  company  in  the  Bat- 
talion in  which  I  served.  This  Martin  Koszta  came 
near  becoming  the  Casus  Belli  between  the  United 
States  and  the  Austrian  Empire,  when  gallant  Captain 
Ingraham  trained  the  guns  of  his  warship  on  an  Aus- 
trian ship  which  had  Koszta  on  board  as  a  political 
prisoner  with  the  intention  of  carrying  him  back  to 
Austria.  This  happened  at  Smyrna,  Asia  Minor,  which 
place  Koszta  visited  after  having  declared  his  intention 
while  in  New  York  of  becoming  a  naturalized  citizen 
of  the  United  States.  Captain  Ingraham  hearing  of 
Koszta's  seizure  gave  the  Austrian  skipper  only  a  few 
hours  in  which  to  bring  Koszta  on  board  of  the  Ameri- 
can war  vessel,  or  else  stand  the  chances  of  being  at- 
tacked and  the  prisoner  rescued  by  force.  It  is  needless 
to  state  that  Koszta  was  delivered  to  Captain  Ingraham 
before  the  expiration  of  the  time  designated. 

It  was  during  the  period  of  1856  and  1857  that, 
although  in  a  small  way,  I  helped  to  lay  the  founda- 
tion of  the  present  "Chicago  Historical  Society." 

It  happened  this  way:  The  Rev.  Mr.  William 
Barry,  a  very  accomplished  gentleman  and  a  retired 
Unitarian  minister,  with  whom  I  became  acquainted 
soon  after  my  arrival  in  Chicago,  sent  his  family 
east  on  a  visit,  came  to  take  up  his  lodging  in  the 
same  place  where  I  boarded.  There  not  being  any  va- 
cant room,  Mr.  Barry  shared  my  room  with  me.  It 
was  during  these  pleasantly  spent  evening  hours  that 
Mr.  Barry  unfolded  to  me  his  plans  of  starting  the 
Chicago  Historical  Society,  in  order  to  preserve  the 
records  of  Chicago  and  the  Northwestern  territory. 
Thus  one  evening,  while  we  were  discussing  the  diffi- 


JONATHAN   YOUNG    SCAMMON  75 

culties  that  would  have  to  be  overcome  in  establishing 
such  an  institution,  without  a  dollar  in  sight,  he  ap- 
proached my  modest  little  bookshelf  which  hung  sus- 
pended between  two  red  cords  against  the  wall  of  our 
room,  and  picking  therefrom  some  books  that  appealed 
to  him,  he  said :  "My  friend,  are  you  willing  to  con- 
tribute these  books  to  the  Chicago  Historical  Society 
as  a  beginning?"  I  do  not  remember  the  reply  I 
made,  for  more  than  a  half  century  has  passed  since 
then,  but  I  must  have  consented,  for  it  was  not  long 
before  Mr.  Barry  took  these  books  and  some  others 
which  he  had  received  from  other  parties  to  the  modest 
little  room  in  the  Ogden  Building  at  the  corner  of 
Clark  and  Lake  streets,  where  he  formed  the  nucleus 
of  the  present  prosperous  "Chicago  Historical  So- 
ciety," of  which  for  years  he  was  the  honored  secretary 
and  librarian. 

Before  proceeding  any  further  with  my  narrative  I 
shall  devote  a  few  lines  to  my  friend  and  benefactor, 

JONATHAN   YOUNG  SCAMiMON 

Mr.  Scammon  was  a  native  of  Maine.  Originally 
he  intended  to  be  a  farmer,  but  through  an  accident 
losing  the  middle  fingers  of  his  left  hand,  he  gave  up 
farming  and  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  law.  After 
graduating  he  came  to  Chicago  in  1835,  two  years 
before  Chicago  became  a  corporate  city.  He  took  up 
his  lodgings  at  the  Sauganack  Hotel,  located  on  the 
southwest  corner  of  Market  and  Lake  streets,  the 
hostelry  which  lodged  many  a  pioneer  builder  of  Chi- 
cago's greatness. 

Mr.  Scammon  during  1855,  the  year  I  first  met  him, 


76  REMINISCENCES 

was  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  largest  banking  institu- 
tions West  of  New  York.  He  attained  a  high  position 
in  banking  circles  through  his  connection,  as  attorney, 
with  the  State  Bank  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  He  was 
also  mainly  instrumental  in  framing  the  new  banking 
laws  of  the  State,  which  defined  certain  rules  in  bank- 
ing, and  placed  additional  responsibilities  upon  cor- 
porate banking  institutions.  Scammon's  Reports,  col- 
lected by  him  while  acting  as  official  reporter  for  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  from  1839  to 
1845,  are  too  well  known  by  practicing  lawyers  to  be 
told  that  the  author  was  an  adept  in  law. 

But  aside  from  successes  achieved  in  all  his  mate- 
rial undertakings,  Mr.  Scammon  possessed  a  deep  re- 
ligious temperament.  He  devoted  much  time  and 
money  in  organizing  the  first  Swedenborgian  Church 
in  the  West.  He  had  arrived  at  the  zenith  of  a  suc- 
cessful career,  when,  as  it  was  natural  for  him  to  do, 
he  resolved  to  take  a  well-earned  rest  by  a  trip  to 
Europe.  And  right  here  it  was  that  Mr.  Scammon, 
with  all  his  shrewdness  as  a  business  man  and  a  law- 
yer, committed  the  fatal  blunder  that  brought  on  his 
financial  ruin.  In  the  first  place,  the  year  1857,  when 
he  decided  upon  his  trip  to  Europe,  was  the  dark- 
est year,  financially  and  industrially,  in  the  history  of 
Chicago  and  the  West.  It  was  the  culmination  of  the 
wild  speculative  spirit  that  raged  for  ten  years  pre- 
vious to  it.  The  wild-cat  money  that  had  been  pour- 
ing in  from  Georgia  and  Tennessee,  flooding  the  en- 
tire West,  became  worthless ;  every  commodity  of  life 
was  declining,  with  no  legitimate  money  to  carry  on 
the  business  of  the  country.  At  such  a  critical  and 


JONATHAN    YOUNG    SCAMMON  ?? 

panicky  time,  Mr.  Scammon  should  have  stood  by  his 
many  important  undertakings,  and  not  entrusted  them 
to  the  care  of  a  young  man  by  the  name  of  B.  F.  Car- 
ver, as  cashier  of  the  Marine  Bank,  whose  only  recom- 
mendation as  to  fitness  for  his  position  had  been  that 
he  was  the  son  of  a  rich  father,  Benjamin  Carver  of 
Herkimer  County,  N.  Y.,  who  was  a  large  stockholder 
in  the  bank.  Here  I  must  digress  and  resume  my  con- 
nection with  my  Mr.  Scammon  from  the  time  I  entered 
his  law  office  in  the  spring  of  1855.  After  having  been 
employed  for  a  few  weeks  in  the  law  office  of  Scam- 
mon &  McCagg,  I  became  convinced  that  it  would 
take  me  from  four  to  five  years  to  fit  myself  for  the 
bar,  during  which  time  I  would  earn  but  a  scanty  liv- 
ing. My  English,  although  sufficient  for  ordinary  con- 
versational purposes,  was  not  what  I  thought  a  per- 
son studying  law  should  possess  and  be  master  of.  So 
during  one  of  my  visits  to  Mr.  Scammon's  house  on 
Congress  street,  I  broached  the  subject  to  him,  and  he 
readily  fell  in  with  my  idea  and  offered  me  a  position 
in  the  Marine  Bank,  which  I  gladly  accepted,  as  it 
secured  me  at  once  a  comfortable  salary.  I  then 
worked  faithfully  in  the  bank  for  two  years,  occupying 
various  positions,  while  my  visits  to  Mr.  Scammon's 
residence  continued  twice  a  week,  to  instruct  his  two 
daughters  in  French,  and  which  is  one  of  my  pleasant- 
est  recollections. 

Some  time  after  Mr.  Scammon's  departure,  I  no- 
ticed that  some  of  the  bank  employes  paid  frequent 
midnight  visits  to  the  bank,  opened  the  vaults  and 
took  out  the  bank  books,  over  which  they  spent  hours 
in  figuring  and  making  erasures.  After  one  of  these 


78  REMINISCENCES 

midnight  visits,  I  arose  from  my  sofa  bed  (my  room 
opening  into  the  bank)  and  opened  the  vault,  took 
out  the  general  ledger  and  cash  book,  and  to  my  sur- 
prise I  found  erasures  and  alterations  of  figures  that 
confirmed  my  suspicions  that  something  was  wrong. 
Thinking  over  the  matter  for  several  days,  I  finally 
decided  to  express  my  suspicions  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  J.  R. 
Hibbard  of  the  Swedenborgian  Church,  asking  him  to 
communicate  these  suspicions  to  Mr.  Scammon,  who 
was  at  that  time  in  Switzerland.  My  faithfulness,  how- 
ever, was  illy  rewarded.  Mr.  Scammon  wrote  to  his 
brother,  F.  Scammon,  who  was  one  of  the  directors  of 
the  bank,  all  about  what  Mr.  Hibbard  had  written  him, 
and  who  in  turn  informed  Mr.  B.  F.  Carver  of  the  facts, 
with  the  result  that  this  latter  gentleman  showed  his 
feelings  of  anger  towards  me  in  every  way  possible, 
and  to  such  an  extent  that  I  had  to  resign  my  position, 
which  I  had  held  for  over  five  years.  But  the  hardest 
blow  to  me  was  not  the  loss  of  my  position,  but  the 
message  which  Mr.  Scammon  had  sent  me  through 
Mr.  Hibbard,  which  was :  "Tell  Mr.  Kune  to  mind 
his  own  business."  Facts  which  eventually  came  to 
light,  not  very  long  after  I  left  the  employ  of  the  bank, 
brought  to  me  the  satisfaction  of  having  done  what 
every  honest  employe  should  have  done, — that  of  try- 
ing to  save  his  principal  from  loss  which  he  sees  he 
is  being  daily  subjected  to.  On  Mr.  Scammon's  re- 
turn, he  found  that  the  mismanagement  of  the  bank 
had  caused  it  a  loss  of  several  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  it  had  to  close  its  doors  not  long  afterwards. 
Months  after,  when  Mr.  Scammon  had  lost  all  his  ac- 
cumulated wealth,  he  frankly  acknowledged  to  me  that 


WM.    B.    OGDEN  79 

had  he  heeded  my  warnings  sent  through  Mr.  Hibbard, 
he  might  have  averted  some,  if  not  all,  of  the  losses 
caused  by  the  dishonesty  of  some  of  his  employes. 
As  an  earnest  demonstration  of  his  kind  feelings  for 
me,  he  then  and  there  wrote  the  following  letter  of 
recommendation : 

"Marine  Bank  of  Chicago, 
Oct.  29,  1860. 

Mr.  Julian  Kune  has  been  in  the  employment  of 
this  institution  for  several  years.  He  is  a  gentleman 
of  good  character  and  undoubted  honesty  and  unques- 
tioned fidelity.  He  discharged  his  duties  in  this  bank 
satisfactorily. 

(Signed)  J.  YOUNG  SCAMMON, 

President." 

WM.   B.    OGDEN 

My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Ogden  began  in  1859. 
He  was  then  undoubtedly  the  richest  man  West  of 
New  York,  and  how  I,  a  young  exile  earning  my  living 
by  holding  a  clerkship  in  a  bank,  should  have  gained 
the  favor  of  this  pioneer,  Chicago's  first  Mayor,  is  only 
explainable  by  the  fact  that  Mr.  Ogden  was  a  broad- 
minded  and  liberal  man.  He  was  a  reader  and  a 
student  of  the  many  political  events  occurring  in  those 
days,  and  on  my  having  been  introduced  to  him  as  a 
Hungarian  exile,  by  his  friend,  Mr.  Scammon,  he  took 
quite  an  interest  in  what  I  had  to  say  about1  the  Hun- 
garian struggle  for  freedom  in  1848.  And,  having  had 
frequent  social  chats  with  him,  I  gradually  drifted  into 
State  politics,  and  through  his  influence  and  that  of 
Mr.  Scammon,  both  of  whom  were  members  of  the 


80  REMINISCENCES 

Legislature,  I  was  appointed  assistant  enrolling  and 
engrossing  clerk  of  the  Senate  in  1860.  Mr.  Ogden's 
biography  has  often  been  dwelt  upon ;  therefore  I  will 
merely  state  that  when  I  came  to  Chicago  in  1855 
he  had  been  a  resident  of  the  city  about  twenty  years, 
having  come  from  Walton,  Delaware  County,  N.  Y., 
to  take  care  of  some  land,  about  182  acres,  which  his 
father  had  owned.  He  was  Chicago's  first  Mayor  in 
1837,  while  another  gentleman  of  high  character,  and 
who  subsequently  befriended  me,  I.  N.  Arnold,  was 
city  clerk,  and  N.  B.  Judd  city  attorney.  Mr.  Ogden 
was  justly  called  the  "Railway  King  of  the  West." 
He  was  the  first  president  of  the  Union  Pacific  R.  R., 
and  for  a  long  time  president  of  the  Chicago  and 
North  Western  R.  R.  from  its  inception,  as  it  grew 
from  the  old  Chicago  &  Galena  Union  R.  R.  His  repu- 
tation as  a  railroad  builder  and  successful  representa- 
tive American  was  by  no  means  limited  to  his  native 
country — it  was  international,  as  may  be  inferred  from 
what  Guizot,  the  French  historian  and  statesman,  said 
of  him  while  gazing  upon  his  portrait,  painted  by  the 
eminent  Chicago  artist,  Healy.  He  said:  "That  is 
the  representative  American,  who  is  a  benefactor  of  his 
country,  especially  the  mighty  West;  he  built  Chi- 
cago." If  he  did  not  literally  build  the  Chicago  of 
today,  he  certainly  laid  its  foundation  well,  by  honest 
examples  in  both  private  and  public  life.  He  had  the 
honor  of  laying  also  the  foundation  of  the  vast  railroad 
system  of  the  West,  by  building  the  first  locomotive 
that  was  sent  out  West  from  Chicago  in  April,  1849, 
His  probity  and  honesty  in  all  his  dealings  were  pro- 
verbial. When  he  was  hard  pressed  for  ready  money 


MY   POLITICAL   LIFE  81 

during  the  panic  of  1857,  a  friend  of  his,  a  Scotch 
nobleman,  sent  him  an  offer  of  100,000  pounds  sterling, 
saying:  "If  you  get  through,  I  know  you  will  return 
it.  If  you  don't,  Jenny  and  I  will  never  miss  it." 

It  is  but  rarely  that  a  great  man  like  Wm.  B.  Og- 
den  was,  writes  his  own  epigramatic  epitaph  so  uncon- 
sciously as  were  the  words  delivered  to  a  lady  friend, 
who  was  grieving  over  the  future  career  of  her  son: 
"I  was  born  close  to  a  saw-mill,  was  early  left  an 
orphan,  christened  in  a  mill  pond,  graduated  at  a  log 
school  house,  and  at  14  I  fancied  I  could  do  anything 
I  turned  my  hand  to;  that  nothing  was  impossible. 
And  ever  since,  madam,  I  have  been  trying  to  prove  it, 
and  with  some  success." 

.MY  POLITICAL  LIFE 

Here  my  readers  will  pardon  a  slight  digression 
in  order  to  give  a  brief  narrative  of  the  events  that 
led  me  into  politics.  Early  in  the  60s  I  was  induced  to 
join  the  Cameron  and  Lincoln  Club,  organized  by  a 
certain  Dr.  Leib,  Fernando  Jones,  Dr.  Blake,  and  sev- 
eral other  ardent  young  Republicans.  At  these  club 
meetings  some  fine  speaking  could  be  heard,  not  only 
by  adherents  to  the  main  purpose  of  the  Club's  organ- 
ization, but  also  by  others,  who  favored  other  candi- 
dates to  become  the  party's  leaders  during  the  hottest 
of  all  political  campaigns.  Why  and  how  Mr.  Cameron 
came  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  ticket  was  never  revealed 
to  me.  That  Abraham  Lincoln  should  be  on  the  ticket 
was  from  the  first  patent  to  me.  I  heard  him  speak, 
and  read  all  of  his  debating  speeches  with  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  during  1858,  and  they  excited  my  admiration 


82  REMINISCENCES 

and  love  for  the  man  who  was  brave  enough  to  quote 
to  the  whole  nation  the  Biblical  words:  "A  house  di- 
vided against  itself  cannot  stand. — This  Nation  cannot 
exist  half  slave  and  half  free."  Without  acquainting 
any  of  my  fellow  club  members,  with  the  exception  of 
one  or  two,  I  started  for  Washington,  D.  C.,  in  Janu- 
ary, 1860.  I  had  letters  of  introduction  to  Mr.  Simon 
Cameron,  U.  S.  Senator  from  Pennsylvania.  I  attended 
several  sessions  of  Congress ;  became  acquainted  with 
several  prominent  politicians  from  all  parts  of  the 
country;  attended  a  public  reception  at  the  White 
House,  and  shook  hands  with  the  President,  James 
Buchanan.  But  for  all  that,  I  left  Washington  a  sad- 
der and  wiser  man.  Although  but  a  tyro  in  the  art 
of  politics,  I  saw  a  portentious  storm  brewing  which 
was  to  shake  the  nation  to  its  very  inmost  core,  and 
test  its  stability.  I  at  once  was  reminded  of  what  my 
great  countryman,  Louis  Kossuth,  had  said  on  one  oc- 
casion, about  the  instability  of  a  nation  that  is  gov- 
erned  from  two  standpoints,  the  one  constitutional  and 
representative,  and  the  other  absolute  and  autocratic. 
Centuries  ago  the  great  Teacher  laid  down  the  ualter- 
able  decree  of  God,  when  he  said  (Matth.  12:25),  "Ev- 
ery Kingdom  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand."  I 
saw  that  the  "irrepressible  conflict,"  as  Wm.  H.  Sew- 
ard  called  it,  was  close  upon  us.  Very  soon  after  my 
return  home  I  found  that  the  Republicans  of  the  city 
were  divided  as  to  the  choice  of  presidential  candi- 
dates. The  club  to  which  I  belonged  was  as  strongly 
in  favor  of  Simon  Cameron  as  ever.  Those  in  favor 
of  Lincoln,  like  N.  B.  Judd,  Jno.  L.  Scripps,  Joseph 
Medill,  and  a  few  others,  were  lying  low  and  undemon- 


THE    DECATUE    CONVENTION  83 

strative,  while  I  might  say  that  more  than  half  of  the 
Republican  voters  of  the  West  favored  Wm.  H.  Sew- 
ard  for  the  standard  bearer  during  the  approaching 
conflict.  I  call  it  designedly  "conflict,"  for  it  was  to  be 
a  conflict  between  the  votaries  of  freedom  and  of 
slavery. 

THE  DECATUR   CONVENTION. 

Not  long  after  my  return  from  Washington,  the 
State  Convention  to  nominate  delegates  to  the  National 
Convention  and  elect  State  officers,  was  held  at  De- 
catur,  111.,  May  9th  and  10th,  1860.  I  attended  that 
convention,  having  been  elected  an  alternate.  Very 
few,  probably  not  more  than  half  a  dozen  of  the  dele- 
gates who  attended  that  convention,  are  still  on  earth. 
Most  of  the  leaders  in  the  convention  were  strong 
Seward  men.  The  Chicago  delegation  was  evenly  di- 
vided between  Cameron  and  Seward,  until  the  10th 
of  May,  when  an  article  appeared  in  the  Chicago  Press 
and  Tribune  which  caused  a  stampede  from  both  the 
Seward  and  Cameron  men  to  Lincoln.  To  clinch  that 
stampede,  came  the  episode  of  John  Hanks  suddenly 
appearing  in  the  midst  of  the  delegates  carrying  on 
his  shoulders  two  fence  rails  with  the  inscription 
tacked  on  to  them :  "Two  rails  made  by  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  John  Hanks  in  the  Sangamon  bottom  in 
the  year  1838."  This  startling  episode  caused  pande- 
momium  to  break  loose,  and  there  was  a  unanimous 
roar  of  "Abraham  Lincoln,  the  Rail  Splitter,  for  Presi- 
dent," and  the  Decatur  Convention  immortalized  itself 
by  putting  forward  Abraham  Lincoln  as  the  Illinois 
candidate  for  the  presidency. 


|84  BEMINISCENCES 

If  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  candidte  for 
the  presidency  was  mainly  brought  about  by  John 
L.  Scripps,  his  election  was  equally  due  to  a  large  ex- 
tent to  the  able  generalship  displayed  by  the  Hon. 
N.  B.  Judd  as  chairman  of  the  Republican  National 
Committee.  My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Judd  at  the 
time  of  the  National  Convention  was  slight,  but  as  I 
was  partly  instrumental  in  changing  the  Cameron  and 
Lincoln  Club  bodily  into  the  Lincoln  and  Hamlin  Club, 
he  saw  fit  to  assign  me  to  the  stumping  of  Southern 
Illinois,  Northern  Indiana  and  part  of  Michigan. 

THE   PRESIDENTIAL   CAMPAIGN    OF    1860 

There  have  been  many  presidential  campaigns  since 
the  foundation  of  this  Government,  but  none  equalled 
the  first  Lincoln  campaign  in  excitement,  sectional 
hatred  and  denunciatory  speeches.  There  were  four 
tickets  in  the  field — Lincoln  and  Hamlin,  Douglas  and 
Johnson,  Breckenridge  and  Joseph  Lane  and  Bell  and 
Everett.  The  main  fight  in  the  North  was  between 
the  first  mentioned  two  tickets.  Partisanship  ran  to  its 
highest  pitch,  and  no  quarter  was  asked  nor  given 
by  either  party.  The  "irrepressible  conflict"  between 
the  slave  oligarchy  and  the  free  soil  men,  now  the  Re- 
publican party,  was  at  hand.  All  freedom-loving  men, 
native  or  naturalized,  were  called  upon  by  the  Repub- 
lican National  Committee,  with  headquarters  at  Chi- 
cago, to  go  forth  and  battle  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Union.  My  lot,  as  stated,  fell  to  go  into  Indiana, 
where  I  addressed  outdoor  audiences  both  in  English 
and  German.  The  principal  speakers  at  these  outdoor 
meetings  were  Congressman,  afterwards  Generals, 


PEE8IDENTIAL  CAMPAIGN  OF  1860  85 

Schenck;  Don  Piat,  and  H.  S.  Lane,  candidate  for 
Governor  of  Indiana.  From  Northern  Indiana  I  was 
afterward  directed  to  go  into  Egypt,  or  Southern  Illi- 
nois, where  Republicans  were  as  scarce  as  hen's  teeth. 
Arrived  at  Mound  City,  111.,  a  station  a  few  miles 
North  of  Cairo,  111.,  I  began  to  realize  that  advocating 
the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  would  be  an  extra 
hazardous  thing,  for  in  all  that  region  within  a  radius 
of  fifty  miles,  there  was  but  one  man,  a  certain  Dr. 
Crain,  who  dared  to  avow  himself  a  Republican.  As 
there  was  no  hall,  I  mounted  the  platform  in  front  of 
the  Illinois  Central  station  shanty,  and  from  there  I 
spoke  to  about  fifty  persons,  composed  mostly  of  farm- 
ers of  Southern  Illinois,  or  Egypt.  That  was  the 
first  time  a  Republican  undertook  to  explain  the  prin- 
ciples and  aims  of  the  Republican  party  in  that  darkest 
Egypt,  the  majority  of  whose  inhabitants  were  fully 
in  sympathy  with  the  party  that  was  for  the  extension 
of  slavery.  Notwithstanding  my  frequent  and  severe 
criticism  of  the  late  acts  of  the  "Little  Giant"  (the 
endearing  name  which  afterwards  they  applied  to  their 
candidate,  Stephen  A.  Douglas)  they  treated  me  fairly 
well,  although  not  because  they  were  in  any  way  cham- 
pions of  free  speech,  but  because  Dr.  Crain,  under 
whose  protection  I  was  speaking,  and  whose  guest  I 
was  at  his  farm,  Villa  Ridge,  a  few  miles  from  Mound 
City,  had  great  influence  over  that  whole  region,  as 
there  was  not  a  family  of  which  he  had  not  saved 
members  from  sickness  and  death  by  his  medical  skill, 
and  very  often  without  monetary  remuneration.  So, 
after  all,  here  was  another  proof  of  the  divine  origin 
of  man,  for  no  matter  how  depraved  a  human  being 


-86  REMINISCENCES 

may  be,  there  are  occasions  when  that  divine  spark 
within  his  breast  manifests  itself. 

My  second  address  was  delivered  at  Cairo,  111.,  on 
the  evening  of  October  4th,  1860,  in  the  Courthouse  of 
the  town.  The  room  was  crowded  to  suffocation,  for 
they  all  wanted  to  hear  what  that  "Black  Republican" 
had  to  say.  This  appellation  applied  to  all  Republi- 
cans in  those  days.  Dr.  Crain,  my  guardian  angel, 
was  at  my  side  on  the  platform. 

In  order  that  my  readers  may  more  readily  under- 
stand the  political  situation  existing  then  in  that  dark- 
est part  of  our  State,  I  will  reproduce  part  of  the  Chica- 
go Press  and  Tribune's  correspondence  dated :  "Cairo, 
Oct.  5,  1860."  It  says:  "Mr.  Julian  Kune,  of  your 
city,  spoke  last  night  at  the  Courthouse.  As  usual,  a 
great  many  Democrats,  with  John  Cochran,  the  mar- 
shal of  the  city,  at  their  head,  were  present  to  dis- 
turb the  meeting  with  their  blackguardism  and  yellings 
for  Douglas.  This  John  Cochran  is  the  same  who  at 
every  Republican  meeting  wants  to  get  up  a  fight, 
and  who  created  a  disturbance  at  the  time  Yates  and 
Fuller  spoke  here.  He  attempted  to  interrupt  Mr. 
Kune  by  all  contemptible  and  dishonorable  means,  but 
failed  in  his  Democratic  trick,  for  Mr.  Kune  announced 
his  determination  to  stand  up  for  his  constitutional 
right  to  speak  and  preach  Republicanism  wherever 
he  chooses.  Tonight  Mr.  Kune  will  speak  at  the  club 
room  in  Mr.  Cushing's  building." 

INTERESTING  INTERVIEW  WITH   ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

When  I  think  of  the  few  occasions  I  had  to  listen 
to  the  encouraging  and  inspiring  words  of  Abraham 


INTERVIEW    WITH   ABEAHAM   LINCOLN  87 

Lincoln,  while  paying  my  visits  to  him  at  Springfield, 
I  more  than  ever  think  of  him  in  the  words  of  the 
Psalmist :  "The  law  of  his  God  is  in  his  heart ;  none 
of  his  steps  shall  slide."  He  certainly  fulfilled  all  the 
deeds  which  these  words  had  promised. 

I  cannot  forego  the  temptation  to  relate  one  inter- 
view I  had  with  Mr.  Lincoln  at  his  office  in  the  State 
House  at  Springfield.  As  there  were  no  ushers  or 
lackeys  to  announce  me,  or  to  carry  my  card,  I  simply 
knocked  at  the  office  door,  and  on  receiving  a  hearty 
"Come  in,"  I  entered  and  found  Mr.  Lincoln  romping 
with  one  of  his  boys.  After  some  unimportant  ex- 
change of  words  about  various  subjects,  we  touched 
the  slavery  question.  At  first  I  was  very  cautious  in 
my  remarks,  for  some  of  the  Republican  orators  and 
campaign  documents  averred  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
far  from  being  at  heart  for  the  abolition  of  negro  slav- 
ery ;  that  if  he  was  elected  he  would  not  interfere  with 
the  institution  of  slavery  where  it  now  existed;  that 
the  fugitive  slave  law  would  be  upheld  and  executed 
in  every  part  of  the  Union. 

When  I  related  to  him  my  recent  experiences  in 
Southern  Illinois,  where  I  was  prevented  from  speak- 
ing freely  my  sentiments  regarding  the  extension  of 
slavery  beyond  its  present  limits,  and  that  as  a  natural- 
ized citizen  I  was  one  of  the  Hungarian  exiles,  who 
had  fought  for  liberty  under  Louis  Kossuth,  he  arose 
to  the  full  height  of  his  six  feet  four,  and  with  great 
warmth  expressed  himself  (as  nearly  as  I  can  remem- 
ber the  words)  :  "No  man  has  the  right  to  keep  his 
fellowman  in  bondage,  be  he  black  or  white ;  and  the 
time  will  come,  and  must  come,  when  there  will  not 


88  EEMINISCENCES 

be  a  single  slave  within  the  borders  of  this  country." 
This  was  enough  to  convince  me  that  a  truer  senti- 
ment was  never  expressed  by  any  votary  of  liberty, 
either  here  or  abroad.  I  knew  where  Mr.  Lincoln 
stood  in  the  struggle,  and  I  went  forth  with  renewed 
vigor,  and  inspired  by  the  great  Commoner's  word, 
to  do  my  duty  during  that  memorable  strife.  I,  how- 
ever, did  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  discretion  in  bat- 
tle is  as  necessary  to  insure  success  as  is  valor;  therefore 
I  never  mentioned  the  episode  to  one  living  being  until 
after  the  smoke  of  battle  had  cleared  away  after  the 
election,  for  I  was  aware  that  the  prejudice  against 
the  negro  race  was  still  deeply  rooted  even  in  the 
minds  of  many  Republicans,  and  to  have  it  publicly 
avowed  that  our  standard  bearer  was  an  abolitionist, 
would  be  equal  to  insure  his  certain  defeat.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, by  his  open-hearted  and  frank  acknowledgment 
that  he  was  in  favor  of  the  abolishment  of  slavery,  then 
and  there  at  once  gained  my  deepest  reverence  and 
love.  He  spoke  thus  freely  his  real  sentiments  anent 
the  institution  of  slavery  to  but  few,  and  only  to  those 
whom  he  could  implicitly  trust.  I  shall  ever  regard 
this  trust  and  confidence  which  he  placed  in  me  as 
one  of  the  highest  honors  ever  bestowed  on  me. 

It  would  be  idle  for  me  to  attempt  here  a  bio- 
graphical sketch  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  That  has  been 
done  many  times  by  more  powerful  minds  and  pens 
than  mine.  I  am  here  to  refer  to  such  incidents  only 
that  came  under  my  own  personal  observation.  I 
shall  therefore  defer  further  remarks  about  Mr.  Lincoln 
until  the  time  when  I  shall  describe  my  next  meeting 
him,  after  election,  in  the  city  of  Washington,  during 
June,  1861. 


PART  IV. 

ABRAHAM   LINCOLN^  ELECTION 

The  hopes  which  the  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
North  had  entertained,  that  after  the  election  the  over- 
heated partizan  zeal  and  passions  would  in  time  cool 
down,  as  after  many  previous  elections,  were  quickly 
dissipated  by  sinister  plottings  in  the  Southern  States. 
Long  before  Mr.  Lincoln  departed,  as  the  president- 
elect, for  Washington,  the  caldron  of  discontent  all 
over  the  South  was  boiling  over.  Treason  was  openly 
preached  and  advocated,  not  only  by  Southern  fire- 
eaters,  but  also  by  their  Northern  sympathizers,  the 
so-called  "mud  sills,"  who  were  ever  ready  to  do 
the  dirty  work  of  their  Southern  masters. 

The  Legislature  of  Illinois  convened  with  the 
newly-elected  Governor  Yates  as  its  executive  head. 
To  this  patriot  and  statesman  the  people  of  Illinois, 
as  well  as  the  whole  country,  owe  a  great  debt  of 
gratitude  for  the  energetic  measures  he  took  to  pre- 
vent the  Southern  part  of  Illinois  from  casting  its  lot 
with  the  South.  As  referred  to  in  a  former  part  of 
these  reminiscences,  Mr.  Wm.  B.  Ogden  and  J.  Young 
Scammon  were  members  of  that  memorable  Legisla- 
ture, and  through  their  kind  influence  I  was  elected 
assistant  enrolling  and  engrossing  clerk  of  the  Senate, 
Mr.  D.  L.  Philips  having  been  elected  enrolling  and 
engrossing  clerk. 


90  REMINISCENCES 

During  that  session  of  the  Legislature  I  had  the 
opportunity  of  making  the  acquaintance  of  many  mem- 
bers who  afterwards  distinguished  themselves  either 
in  the  political  arena  or  on  the  field  of  battle.  As  my 
quarters  were  in  the  same  building  in  which  Mr.  Lin- 
coln had  his  modest  office,  I  got  well  acquainted  with 
John  Hay,  his  secretary,  who  afterwards  in  various 
ways  showed  his  disinterested  friendship  for  me.  Long 
after  the  close  of  the  war,  while  going  through  New 
York  on  my  way  to  attend  the  Vienna  Exposition,  I 
called  on  him  at  the  offices  of  the  New  York  Tribune, 
of  which  he  was  then  one  of  the  editors.  He  was  the 
same  kind-hearted  John  as  when  I  knew  him  at  Spring- 
field. 

Without  entering  into  a  chronological  account  of 
the  happenings  of  those  danger-portending  days,  we 
were  surprised  during  the  last  week  of  the  year  1860 
by  the  Palmetto  flag  having  been  raised  over  Fort 
Moultrie,  after  Major  Anderson's  having  evacuated  it 
and  withdrawn  to  Fort  Sumter.  The  U.  S.  Arsenal, 
containing  73,000  stands  of  arms,  had  been  seized  by 
the  State  of  South  Carolina.  The  State  of  South  Caro- 
lina held  its  first  treasonable  convention,  in  which  a 
resolution  was  adopted  absolving  United  States  of- 
ficers, both  in  civil  and  military  service,  and  natives 
of  the  Palmetto  State,  from  their  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  United  States.  During  that  same  week,  John 
B.  Floyd,  Secretary  of  War  under  Buchanan,  cast  off 
his  mask  by  resigning  his  seat  in  President  Buchanan's' 
cabinet.  All  the  above  related  stirring  events  closely 
followed  each  other,  which  fianlly  awakened  the  over- 
confident "Peace  at  any  price"  men  from  their  lethargy 


ABEAHAM   LINCOLN'S    ELECTION  91 

all  over  the  North,  including  members  of  our  Legis- 
lature. It  was  at  this  period  that  Capt.  Elmer  E. 
Ellsworth,  fresh  from  his  laurel-crowned  tour  of  the 
United  States,  at  the  head  of  his  unmatched  Zouave 
Cadets,  was  a  frequent  visitor  to  the  halls  of  the  Legis- 
lature. By  his  soldierly  bearing  and  handsome  face, 
with  raven  black  curls  hanging  down  his  neck,  he  al- 
ways succeeded  in  drawing  an  admiring  crowd  of 
Legislators  around  him. 

But  Col.  Ellsworth  (or  rather  Capt.  Ellsworth,  as 
he  had  not  attained  as  yet  the  rank  of  Colonel)  was 
not  the  only  one  whose  patriotic  fire  had  prompted 
him  to  buttonhole  every  Senator  and  Legislator,  urg- 
ing them  to  form  military  companies  in  their  respective 
districts.  Many  of  the  naturalized  citizens,  who  for- 
merly had  served  in  European  armies,  began  to  organ- 
ize companies,  and  drilled  them  night  after  night.  Of 
these  a  friend  of  mine  and  fellow  Hungarian  exile,  Mr. 
Geza  Mihalotzy,  stands  pre-eminently  in  the  front  rank 
as  a  patriotic  and  far-seeing  naturalized  citizen.  While 
at  Springfield  I  received  the  following  communication 
from  him : 

"Chicago,  February  4, 1861. 
Dear  Friend: 

Will  you  do  me  the  favor  to  present  the  enclosed 
letter  to  the  gentleman  addressed  (Mr.  Lincoln).  We 
have  organized  a  militia  company  under  the  name  of 
"Lincoln  Riflemen."  I  have  been  elected  Captain,  and 
Kovats  Lieutenant  of  the  same.  The  letter  addressed 
to  his  excellency,  Mr.  Lincoln,  containing  a  request 
for  permission  to  use  his  name,  you  will  please  present 
first,  if  he  is  at  home ;  if  he  is  absent  from  Springfield, 


92  BEMINISCENCES 

present  it  as  soon  as  you  have  an  opportunity.  The 
second  letter,  addressed  to  his  excellency,  Gov.  Yates, 
informs  him  of  the  organization  of  the  company,  and 
makes  application  for  patent  of  commissioned  officers 
elected  according  to  law  by  the  unanimous  consent  of 
the  company,  and  also  resolutions  passed  by  the  mem- 
bers. The  third  letter  is  an  application  for  arms  and 
accoutrements  to  the  Adjutant-General  of  the  State. 
We  want  Minnie  Rifles.  You  will  please  exert  your 
influence  to  the  utmost  in  regard  to  the  arms.  Try 
and  procure  us  good  arms,  as  we  are  the  first  company 
of  Hungarians  and  Bohemians  formed  in  the  United 
States.  We  wish  to  do  honor  to  the  country  of  our 
birth  and  the  country  of  our  adoption.  I  remain,  re- 
spectfully yours, 

(Signed)  GEZA  MIHALOTZY." 

I  at  once  presented  the  letters  to  the  persons  ad- 
dressed. Mr.  Lincoln  readily  and  gladly  accorded  Mr. 
Mihalotzy's  request,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  him, 
which  he  gave  me  for  transmission.  Gov.  Yates  and 
Mr.  Mather,  the  Adjutant  General,  sent  their  replies 
direct  to  Mr.  Mihalotzy.  That  the  Lincoln  Riflemen, 
composed  of  Hungarian  and  Bohemian  adopted  citi- 
zens, with  Capt.  Mihalotzy  as  their  leader,  did  honor 
to  their  adopted  country,  was  proven  subsequently  on 
the  field  of  battle. 

FORT  SUMTER  FIRED  ON 

Fort  Sumter  was  fired  on  April  12,  and  evacuated 
April  14,  1861.  On  the  19th  of  April  Gov.  Yates  was 
ordered  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  Simon  Cameron,  to 


FOBT  SUMTEB  FIBED   ON  gg 

send  a  large  force  to  Cairo,  which  order  was  trans- 
mitted to  General  R.  K.  Swift,  who  48  hours  after 
having  received  the  order,  had  left  for  Cairo  with  sev- 
eral companies,  among  which  were  the  Lincoln  Rifle- 
men, with  Capt.  Mihalotzy,  who  later  became  Lieut. 
Colonel  of  the  24th  Illinois  Volunteers,  and  subse- 
quently was  killed  at  Buzzard's  Bay,  Tenn. 

THE  SPRING  OF   1861 

I  must,  however,  return  from  this  digression  to  the 
stirring  times  of  the  spring  I  spent  in  Springfield, 
while  an  official  of  the  Senate,  during  the  special  ses- 
sion of  the  Legislature  in  April,  1861. 

The  military  atmosphere  which  pervaded  the  whole 
country  also  had  reached  Illinois,  and  especially  the 
capital,  where  the  law-makers  were  congregated  to 
form  laws,  but  instead  gathered  in  groups  and  talked 
about  the  coming  fratricidal  war.  Through  my  friend, 
Mr.  I.  N.  Arnold,  the  newly  elected  member  of  Con- 
gress, it  became  known  to  Gov.  Yates  that  I  had  some 
experience  in  military  matters,  having  served  during 
the  war  of  Hungarian  liberation  under  Gen.  Bern.  He 
sent  for  me  and  asked  me  whether  I  would  enter  the 
regular  army  if  I  was  tendered  a  commission.  As 
my  heart  and  soul  had  always  been  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  liberty,  it  took  but  a  moment  for  a  decision. 
Gov.  Yates  at  once  had  a  petition  drawn  up,  directed 
to  Mr.  Simon  Cameron,  Secretary  of  War,  asking  for 
my  appointment  into  the  regular  army.  This  petition 
was  signed  by  Governor  Yates;  his  private  secretary, 
Col.  Wilson;  Messrs.  I.  N.  Arnold,  member  of  Con- 
gress; William  B.  Ogden;  J.  Young  Scammon,  the 


94  BEMINISCENCES 

•peaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  several 
members  of  the  Legislature,  as  well  as  Ex-Governor 
Koerner ;  the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Hatch ;  and  Thos. 
G.  Mather,  the  Adjutant  General  of  the  Illinois  militia. 
The  petition,  duly  signed,  was  forwarded  by  Governor 
Yates  to  the  War  Department  as  an  official  State 
paper. 

Never  before,  unless  I  except  my  early  experience 
during  the  Hungarian  revolution  of  1848,  was  history 
made  so  fast  as  it  was  during  the  winter  of  1860-61. 
One  startling  event  followed  another  in  quick  succes- 
sion. State  after  State  in  the  South  followed  the  ex- 
ample of  South  Carolina.  The  President-elect  of  the 
United  States  had  to  go  to  the  capital  surrounded  and 
guarded  by  secret  service  men.  Treason  was  openly 
flaunted  under  the  eyes  of  the  still  over-confident 
North.  Our  War  Governor,  ever  in  the  fore  when  the 
situation  required  prompt  and  decisive  action,  con- 
vened the  legislature  in  April,  1861.  The  special  ses- 
sion of  the  legislature  was  short,  but  it  transacted  a 
vast  amount  of  business,  providing  the  wherewithal 
with  which  to  support  the  Central  Government.  It 
provided  the  sinews  of  war,  and  after  some  minor  im- 
portant laws  and  patriotic  resolutions  it  adjourned. 

ORGANIZING    A    REGIMENT 

A  few  days  after  my  return  from  Springfield  a  dep- 
utation of  naturalized  German  citizens  of  Chicago 
called  upon  me,  and  urged  upon  me  and  a  Mr.  Knobels- 
dorf  (a  retired  soldier  of  the  Schleswig-Holstein  army, 
who  was  at  this  time  employed  in  the  Land  Depart- 
ment of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad)  to  organize  a 


OEGANIZINQ   A   BEGIMENT  95 

regiment,  composed  of  German  Americans  and  other 
foreign  nationalities.  At  first  I  was  disinclined  to  ac- 
cede to  this  proposition,  as  I  daily  expected  my  ap- 
pointment to  the  regular  army,  but  as  among  some  of 
those  who  urged  me  were  Chicago's  foremost  German 
Americans,  such  as  George  Schneider,  Anton  C.  Hes- 
sing,  Casper  Butz  and  Lorenz  Brentano,  I  finally  con- 
sented, and  on  the  llth  of  May,  1861,  Mr.  Knobelsdorf 
and  myself  started  in  to  organize  a  regiment  of  in- 
fantry, which  afterwards  was  known  as  the  24th  Illi- 
nois Infantry.  We  established  a  camp  (which  we 
named  "Camp  Robert  Blum")  in  the  grove  just  south 
of  35th  street,  or  Douglas  Place,  as  it  was  called  then, 
and  we  had  also  a  recruiting  place  in  the  city.  The 
Lincoln  Riflemen,  Capt.  Geza  Mihalotzy,  and  the 
Turner  Union  Cadets  (German  Turners)  both  being 
desirous  of  being  incorporated  with  the  24th  Illinois 
Infantry,  it  became  a  question  how  to  get  their  release 
from  the  three  months'  service  in  which  they  were 
then  engaged  at  Cairo,  under  the  command  of  Gen. 
Geo.  B.  McClellan.  As  I  was  personally  acquainted 
with  the  General,  this  acquaintance  dating  back  to  the 
time  when  he  was  connected  with  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad,  while  I  was  in  the  service  of  the  Marine 
Bank,  of  Chicago,  I  went  to  see  him  at  Cairo,  hoping 
to  effect  the  release  of  the  above  named  two  compan- 
ies, armed  as  I  was  with  a  letter  from  Gov.  Yates  ask- 
ing for  the  release.  I  found  the  General  at  his  head- 
quarters, which  was  on  board  of  an  Illinois  Central 
car.  After  listening  to  my  arguments  for  awhile,  he 
readily  granted  my  request.  The  two  companies  from 
Cairo  and  a  company  recruited  in  Ottawa  by  Capt. 


96  KEMINISCENCES 

Henry  J.  Reed  completed  the  ranks  of  the  regiment, 
and  we  were  ready  to  have  it  accepted  on  the  Presi- 
dent's first  call  for  75,000  men.  We,  that  is  Mr. 
Knobelsdorf  and  myself,  started  for  Washington,  ex- 
pecting that  our  regiment  would  be  readily  accepted  by 
the  War  Department.  At  this  juncture  my  acquaint- 
ance with  Mr.  John  Hay,  one  of  President  Lincoln's 
private  secretaries,  was  of  great  advantage  to  me,  for 
while  it  was  very  difficult  during  those  tumultuous  and 
busy  days  to  get  an  interview  with  the  President,  it 
was  comparatively  easy  to  gain  admittance  to  the  sec- 
retary's room.  Once  in  his  room,  he  promised  to  do 
everything  in  his  power  to  help  me.  In  the  meantime 
we  handed  in  our  application  to  the  War  Department. 
After  several  days'  waiting  in  vain  for  a  reply,  I  called 
on  the  Secretary  of  War  in  person.  On  seeing  me,  as 
I  entered  his  office,  he  accosted  me  with,  "Ah,  it  is  you 
of  the  Chicago  Cameron  and  Lincoln  Club  who  wants 
a  regiment  accepted.  I  am  very  sorry  to  have  to  dis- 
appoint you ;  the  offers  are  more  than  twice  the  quota 
asked  for.  But,"  he  added,  "as  for  yourself,  the  War 
Department  would  be  ready  to  give  you  a  commission 
in  the  regular  army,  coming  recommended  as  you  have 
come."  I  thanked  Mr.  Cameron  for  his  kind  offer, 
but  I  told  him  that  under  the  circumstances,  and  in  the 
position  I  found  myself  as  the  representative  of  a  regi- 
ment composed  almost  entirely  of  naturalized  citizens, 
I  could  not  accept  any  position  whatever  unless  the 
regiment  was  accepted. 

We  had  been  in  Washington  for  over  a  week,  and 
we  were  no  nearer  to  the  fulfillment  of  our  hopes  than 
ever.  After  a  consultation  with  our  Representative, 


ORGANIZING   A   BEGIMENT  97 

Mr.  I.  N.  Arnold,  to  whom  I  related  my  last  interview 
with  the  Secretary  of  War,  we  decided  to  seek  an  inter- 
view with  Mr.  Lincoln  himself,  urging  him  to  accept 
the  regiment.  I  saw  also  Gen.  N.  P.  Banks,  who  had  been 
appointed  meanwhile  Major  General.  I  had  a  slight 
acquaintance  with  Gen.  Banks,  dating  back  to  the  time 
when  he  also  was  connected  with  the  Illinois  Central 
as  its  Vice  President.  He  readily  consented  to  aid 
me  all  he  could,  and  made  an  appointment  with  me 
to  call  on  him  the  following  morning  at  9  o'clock  at 
his  room  at  the  Willard  Hotel,  and  we  would  go  to 
the  White  House.  I  therefore  acquainted  Mr.  Arnold 
with  this  plan,  and  he  promised  to  be  at  the  White 
House  at  the  appointed  hour.  When  Gen.  Banks, 
Col.  Knobelsdorf  and  myself  arrived  at  the  White 
House,  we  found  not  only  the  ante-room  but  even  the 
corridor  filled  with  Governors  of  various  Northern 
States,  Senators  and  Representatives,  waiting  to  see 
the  President,  almost  every  one  of  them  bent  on  the 
same  errand  we  were  on, — namely,  to  have  him  accept 
their  respective  regiments  which  they  had  come  to 
otter  to  the  Government. 

The  question  of  how  to  gain  admittance,  while  so 
many  eminent  statesmen  were  waiting,  was  quickly 
solved  by  my  friend,  John  Hay,  who  a  few  minutes 
after  I  sent  my  card  to  him,  stepped  to  the  door  of  his 
office  and  quietly  asked  us  (Mr.  I.  N.  Arnold,  Col. 
Knobelsdorf  and  myself)  to  itep  into  his  office,  Gen. 
Banks,  having  been  previously  admitted  into  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's room.  I  must  not  omit  to  mention  that  both 
Col.  Knobelsdorf  and  myself  were  clad  in  the  Austrian 
Jaeger  Regiment  uniform,  which  by  its  novelty  pro- 


98  REMINISCENCES 

duced  quite  an  impression.  Without  tarrying  in  hit 
office,  Mr.  Hay  led  us  into  the  President's  room,  where 
we  found  Salmon  P.  Chase  and  Gen.  Banks,  who  evi- 
dently had  spoken  about  us  to  the  President. 

I  was  startled  at  the  haggard  appearance  of  the 
President.  The  cares  of  State  seemed  to  weigh  heavily 
upon  him.  The  buoyant  spirit  which  had  kept  him 
up  during  the  late  political  campaign  had  left  him.  I 
had  never  seen  such  a  change  within  so  short  a  time 
in  the  appearance  of  a  man.  These  sad  reflections 
were  soon  dispelled  by  Mr.  Arnold  formally  introduc- 
ing us  to  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  as  "Col.  Knobelsdorf  and  Major  Kune  of 
a  German-American  Regiment  which  they  had  come 
to  offer  to  the  Government."  I  thereupon  handed  the 
President  the  application  which  had  been  returned  to 
me  during  my  last  interview  with  the  Secretary  of 
War.  On  looking  at  it  he  remarked:  "I  see  that 
Cameron  is  opposed  to  accepting  any  more  regiments. 
I  am  afraid  I  cannot  help  you,  for  (this  with  a  twinkle 
in  his  eye  )my  influence  with  this  administration  don't 
amount  to  much."  "Then  again,"  he  continued,  "we 
have  seventy-five  thousand  men  already  in  the  field, 
and  if  we  should  accept  any  more  we  would  not  be 
able  to  feed  them."  When  he  had  finished,  something 
within  me,  which  I  cannot  explain,  urged  me  to  com- 
bat the  President's  fears,  and  I  said  (as  near  as  I  can 
remember  words  spoken  over  a  half  century  ago),  "Mr. 
President,  you  say  that  you  have  already  seventy-five 
thousand  men  in  the  field.  Permit  me  to  tell  you  that 
it  will  take  many  times  seventy-five  thousand  before 
this  rebellion  is  put  down ;  and  as  to  the  feeding  propo- 


ORGANIZING   A   BEGIMENT  99 

sition,  the  prairies  of  our  own  State  of  Illinois  can 
raise  more  than  enough  to  feed  a  million  soldiers."  For 
a  moment  I  thought  that  the  audacity  of  this  short 
reply  had  spoiled  everything,  but  upon  casting  my 
eyes  on  Mr.  Chase  and  Gen.  Banks  I  caught  their 
glances  of  approval.  Mr.  Lincoln  quietly  handed  our 
application  to  Mr.  Hay  with  the  remark:  "John,  en- 
close this  paper  with  an  order  to  the  War  Department 
to  accept  this  regiment."  The  order  was  immediately 
written  out  and  signed  by  the  President  and  given  to 
me,  as  I  thought  then,  the  happiest  mortal  on  earth. 
As  we  filed  out  of  the  White  House,  and  the  news 
spread  that  the  Hecker  Regiment  (the  24th  Illinois) 
was  accepted,  Governors,  Senators  and  Representa- 
tives gathered  around  us,  among  which  were  Lyman 
Trumbull  and  John  P.  Kellogg,  both  of  whom  had 
regiments  to  offer  on  behalf  of  their  political  friends, 
wondering  how  it  all  happened.  I  have  been  particu- 
lar in  giving  a  detailed  account  of  this  last  interview 
with  Abraham  Lincoln,  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
the  steady  and  gradual  growth  of  his  conception  of 
the  magnitude  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  At  first  Mr. 
Lincoln,  imbued  with  most  tender  and  kindly  feelings, 
could  not  think  otherwise  than  that  after  the  first  clash 
of  arms  and  the  first  victory  on  the  part  of  the  North, 
the  erring  and  misled  sons  of  the  South  would  return 
to  the  Union  like  prodigal  sons.  As  soon  as  he  saw 
he  was  in  error,  and  that  one  of  our  foremost  generals 
expressed  his  conviction  that  it  would  require  two 
hundred  thousand  soldiers  to  conquer  the  State  of 
Kentucky,  he  was  ready  to  call  out  a  million  more 
men  after  the  acceptance  of  our  regiment. 


100  BEMINISCENCES 

ORDERED  TO   THE   SEAT   OF    WAR 

Our  return  to  Chicago  was  soon  followed  by  an 
order  from  the  War  Department,  dated  May  28th, 
1861,  "that  the  regiments  commanded  by  Col.  Scott, 
Goodes,  Marsh  and  Dougherty,  and  the  independent 
regiment  commanded  by  Col.  Hecker,  may  report  to 
General  McClellan  to  be  mustered  into  the  United 
States  three  years'  service."  Accordingly  Col.  Scott's 
Zouave  Regiment  was  mustered  in  as  the  19th  Illinois 
Infantry,  and  the  Hecker  Regiment,  as  the  24th  Illinois 
Infantry  by  Captain  Pitcher  of  the  regular  army.  It 
is  proper  here  to  mention  the  fact  that  Col.  Scott,  who 
was  as  modest  as  he  was  brave,  resigned  his  colonelcy 
in  favor  of  Jchn  B.  Turchin.  (His  name  in  Russian 
was  "Ivan  B.  Turchineff.")  This  gentleman  at  the 
time  the  Civil  War  broke  out  was  in  the  civil  engineer 
department  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  He  had 
been  an  officer  in  the  Russian  army,  but  having  been 
of  a  liberal  turn  of  mind,  he  resigned  and  came  to  this 
country,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  who  subsequently 
proved  herself  a  second  Florence  Nightingale  in  car- 
ing for  and  nursing  the  wounded  of  her  husband's 
regiment  and  brigade.  General  Turchin  was  born 
Jan.  23,  1823,  in  the  province  of  Don,  Russia.  He  had 
a  thorough  military  education  and  became  a  member 
of  the  Russian  general  staff.  He  saw  service  in  the 
campaign  against  Hungary  and  the  Crimea.  Being  of 
a  liberal  turn  of  mind  he  resigned  and  came  to  the 
United  States  and  took  service  with  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad  as  civil  engineer.  At  the  breaking  out 
of  our  civil  war  he  was  offered  a  colonelcy  in  the  19th 


ELECTION    OF  REGIMENTAL    OFFICER  101 

Illinois.  He  soon  made  the  19th  the  best  drilled  regi- 
ment in  the  army  of  the  Cumberland.  He  distin- 
guished himself  at  the  capture  of  Huntsville,  Alabama, 
and  at  Missionary  Ridge.  He  was  court  martialed  by 
Don  Carlos  Buel  for  freeing  slaves,  but  Lincoln  instead 
of  approving  the  verdict  of  dismissal  made  him  Briga- 
dier General. 

One  of  the  unfortunate  drawbacks  that  prolonged 
the  fratracidal  war  between  the  South  and  the  North, 
was  the  inordinate  ambition  of  place  hunters  in  the 
armies  of  both  North  and  South.  They  cared  more  for 
what  the  obtaining  of  a  commission  brought  them, 
both  in  power  and  emoluments,  than  for  the  cause  in 
which  they  should  have  been  interested.  Envy,  that 
most  despicable  of  human  passions,  caused  officers  to 
scheme  and  plan  the  ruination  of  their  brother  officers. 
Well  said  Abraham  a  Sancta  Clara,  the  celebrated  monk 
preacher:  "The  envious  man  finds  satisfaction  in  his 
own  misery,  if  he  only  notes  that  it  is  not  well  with 
his  neighbor."  Also:  "The  prodigal  son's  brother  is 
envy" 

ELECTION  OF  REGIMENTAL  OFFICERS 

Prior  to  our  being  mustered  in,  the  regiment  held 
an  election,  which  to  my  amazement  resulted  not  in 
accordance  with  the  understanding  we  had  as  to  the 
selection  of  the  regimental  field  officers.  Frederick 
Hecker  was  elected  Colonel  and  myself  Major,  but 
Geza  Mihalotzy  was  elected  Lieut.  Colonel  instead  of 
Knobelsdorf,  which  was  a  clear  breach  of  faith  on  the 
part  of  the  officers  of  the  regiment.  Subsequent  events 
clearly  proved  that  Col.  Hecker's  hand  was  in  the 


102  -REMINISCENCES 

change.  I  should  have  refused  to  accept  the  office 
then  and  there,  but  friends,  among  whom  were  the 
whole  editorial  staff  of  the  Chicago  Press  and  Tribune, 
urged  me  not  to  do  it,  and  promised  to  aid  Knobels- 
dorf  in  raising  another  regiment,  which  he  subse- 
quently did  and  became  its  commander. 

After  having  been  mustered  in,  as  stated  above,  by 
Capt.  Pitcher,  and  after  having  received  our  arms  and 
equipments,  we  were  ordered  to  Alton,  111.,  instead  of 
to  Gen.  Geo.  B.  McClellan  at  Cairo,  as  was  designated 
by  the  War  Department's  general  order  of  May  28,  as 
above  referred  to.  At  Alton  we  went  into  camp  just 
outside  of  the  city,  and  tarried  there  long  enough  to 
put  the  regiment  through  the  elementary  branches  of 
a  soldier's  schooling,  such  as  marching,  the  proper 
handling  of  firearms,  company  drill,  etc. 

CROSSING  THE  MISSOURI 

After  two  weeks'  camping  near  Alton,  our  regi- 
ment was  ordered  to  cross  the  Missouri  river  at  St. 
Charles.  There  was  but  one  transport  boat,  and  that 
a  small  one.  It  took  all  night  to  transport  the  regi- 
ment across  the  river.  I  could  never  unravel  the 
puzzle  as  to  why  this  crossing  the  river  was  made 
during  the  night  instead  of  the  day  time.  There  was 
no  enemy  within  a  hundred  miles  from  us.  It  was 
probably  done  to  invest  the  movement  of  our  army 
(composed  as  it  was  then  of  one  regiment  of  1,200 
men,  with  no  artillery,  no  quartermaster  or  commis- 
sary department),  with  the  mystery  of  higher  strategy. 
I  was  in  charge  of  the  steam  ferry  boat,  and  crossed 
the  river  at  least  a  dozen  times  during  that  night.  It 


COL.   U.   S.   GBANT  103 

was  daylight  before  the  last  man  and  baggage  wagon 
was  carried  over. 

Once  over,  we  were  marched  and  countermarched 
several  miles  through  the  Missouri  river  bottom  lands. 
We  halted  at  last  near  a  small  village  where  we  went 
into  camp  just  outside  of  it.  The  question  was  now 
how  to  appease  the  hunger  of  1,200  men,  who  had  not 
tasted  food  since  leaving  Alton  on  the  previous  after- 
noon. It  develops  upon  the  Major  of  a  regiment  to 
superintend  its  commissary  department  and  buy  the 
supplies  and  pay  the  bills,  but  it  does  not  state  in  the 
army  regulations  how  to  perform  those  duties  when 
there  is  no  money  in  the  regimental  treasury,  and  that 
was  the  condition  of  our  treasury  on  this  early  and 
chilly  morning.  The  Colonel  and  Quartermaster,  when 
I  applied  to  them,  refused  to  have  the  latter  issue  regu- 
lar army  vouchers,  so  the  only  alternative  left  for  me 
was  to  give  my  own  personal  notes  for  meat  and  bread 
for  the  whole  regiment  which  notes  I  subsequently 
paid  out  of  my  private  purse  and  for  which  the  govern- 
ment is  still  in  my  debt.  I  could  not  think  for  a  minute 
of  seeing  the  men  starve.  I  relate  this  in  order  to 
record  the  second  breach  between  Col.  Hecker  and 
myself,  the  first  having  occurred  in  the  Alton  camp, 
when  on  one  hot  and  sultry  afternoon  I  led  the  regi- 
ment to  the  Missouri  river  for  a  plunge,  and  afterward 
regaled  them  with  a  glass  of  beer  to  each  one,  which 
I  had  bought  and  paid  for  with  my  own  money. 

COL.    U.    S.    GRANT 

Our  regiment  was  soon  ordered  to  take  charge  of 
the  railroad  leading  from  St.  Charles  to  Mexico.  It 


'104  BEMINISCENCE8 

was  here  that  we  met  the  21st  Illinois  Infantry,  com- 
manded by  Col.  U.  S.  Grant.  To  one  unacquainted 
with  him,  he  appeared  more  like  a  prosperous  farmer 
of  the  country  than  a  Colonel  of  a  regiment.  There 
was  no  sword  dangling  from  his  side;  all  the  adorn- 
ment about  his  plain  blue  army  blouse  was  the  Col- 
onel's "Insignia."  Both  the  24th  and  the  21st  Illinois 
regiments  were  in  General  John  M.  Palmer's  Brigade, 
the  same  Palmer  who  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil 
War  was  a  Senator  in  the  State  Legislature,  and  an 
ardent  patriot,  although  an  old  staunch  Democrat.  He 
was  Colonel  of  the  13th  Illinois  Volunteers  and  soon 
attained  the  rank  of  Brigadier  General.  Many  years 
afterward  he  was  elected  Governor  of  Illinois,  and  it 
was  during  his  incumbency  that  the  great  Chicago 
fire  occurred.  His  controversy  with  Phil  Sheridan 
over  the  latter's  taking  charge  of  the  burnt-down  city 
did  not  add  laurels  to  his  reputation  as  a  man  of  good 
judgment,  although  while  at  Springfield  during  1860, 
as  Senator  from  Macoupin  County,  he  was  the  leader 
of  the  Democratic  minority. 


PART  V. 

THE  TWENTY-FOURTH    ILLINOIS   AT   MEXICO 

During  our  stay  at  Mexico  the  regiment  frequently 
sent  detachments  in  various  directions  to  thwart  the 
design  of  the  Confederate  General  Price  in  bringing 
Missouri  into  the  Confederacy.  While  the  regiment 
during  these  excursions  in  small  detachments  met  with 
no  active  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  Missourians,  it 
suffered  considerably  from  the  lack  of  a  properly 
organized  commissary  department.  As  we  were  pur- 
suing bands  of  guerillas,  we  were  obliged  to  adopt 
the  guerilla  methods  of  commandeering  subsistence 
for  the  regiment.  We  also  took  possession  of  railroads 
and  their  equipment  when  the  necessity  required  it. 
It  was  only  a  short  time  after  our  arrival  at  Mexico 
that  I  became  acquainted  with  Colonel  U.  S.  Grant 
of  the  Twenty-first  Illinois  Volunteers.  While  in  Mex- 
ico, Colonel  Grant  was  made  brigadier  general.  Brig- 
adier General  Pope  commanded  the  district  embracing 
all  of  Missouri  between  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri 
rivers. 

Of  course  it  would  be  as  idle  for  me  to  give  here 
a  biographical  sketch  of  U.  S.  Grant  as  it  would  be  to 
give  one  of  Napoleon,  Washington  or  Lincoln.  Every 
schoolboy  of  the  civilized  world  knows  the  lives  of 
these  great  men  by  heart.  My  aim  is  but  to  mention 

105 


106  REMINISCENCES 

incidents  that  happened  during  the  short  time  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  belonging  to  his  brigade.  As  is  well 
known,  Captain  Grant  was  in  the  leather  business  with 
his  father  at  Galena,  111.,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Civil  War.  He  had  formed  a  friendship  with  the  Hon. 
E.  B.  Washburn,  a  fellow  townsman  and  member  of 
Congress  from  the  Galena  district.  Mr.  Washburn, 
being  a  man  of  keen  perception,  brought  it  about  that 
Captain  Grant,  after  much  urging,  was  given  a  place 
in  the  adjutant-general's  office  at  Springfield  as  an  aide 
to  Thos.  S.  Mather,  adjutant-general  of  the  state  mili- 
tia, in  mustering  in  the  various  Illinois  troops  offered. 
Both  Grant  and  his  friend,  Mr.  Washburn,  were  satis- 
fied that  the  latent  military  talent  of  the  former  could 
be  better  brought  to  the  surface  at  the  head  of  a  regi- 
ment than  sitting  at  a  desk  in  the  adjutant-general's 
office;  hence  Captain  Grant  resigned  his  position  at 
Springfield  about  the  middle  of  June,  1861,  and  he 
was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Twenty-first  regiment 
of  Illinois  Volunteers,  which  was  raised  at  Mattoon, 
111.  Although  I  may  have  seen  Captain  Grant  at  his 
desk  in  Springfield  in  Gen.  Mather's  office,  as  I  was  a 
frequent  visitor  there  between  May  18th  and  July  8th, 
1861,  I  have  no  recollection  of  the  fact,  so  the  first 
time  I  met  him  was  in  northern  Missouri,  while  he 
still  was  colonel  of  the  Twenty-first  and  myself  major 
of  the  Twenty-fourth  Illinois  Infantry. 

I  am  bound  to  confess  that  my  first  impression  was 
not  of  the  extraordinary  kind.  I  simply  saw  in  him  a 
colonel  whose  appearance  indicated  good  common 
sense  in  not  endeavoring  to  impress  upon  one  his  great 
importance  by  outward  regimentals  and  adornmentf. 


LEONABD   SWETT   AND   GEN.    GRANT  107 

I  had  occasion  to  learn  this  lesson,  that  good  common 
sense  in  matters  of  dress  and  general  deportment,  if 
not  always  yet  very  often  indicates  good  generalship. 
General  Moltke,  whom  I  subsequently  met  during  the 
Franco-Prussian  war,  was  one  of  the  shining  examples 
of  great  strategy  and  generalship  who  never  wore  a 
sword  or  any  outward  adornments  in  the  field. 

LEONARD  SWETT   AND  GENERAL  GRANT 

That  Gen.  Grant  was  persistent  in  his  ideas,  when, 
once  adopted,  was  clearly  indicated  to  me  by  his 
sphinxlike  silence  and  his  set  face.  It  is  just  what 
you  would  expect  him  to  say,  when  planting  himseli 
before  the  enemy:  "I  will  fight  it  out  on  this  line  if 
it  takes  all  summer."  This  decisive  and  firm  character 
of  Gen.  Grant  was  attested  to  by  no  less  a  person 
than  Abraham  Lincoln.  Leonard  Swett,  an  intimate 
friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  went  post  haste  to  Washington 
to  complain  about  Gen.  Grant,  who  was  then  in  com- 
mand at  Cairo,  111.,  of  having  threatened  him  with 
court  martial  and  having  him  shot  unless  he  left  his 
military  district  within  twenty-four  hours. 

"Well,  Swett,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "if  I  were  in  your 
place  I  should  keep  out  of  Ulysses  Simpson's  baili- 
wick, for  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  belief 
Grant  will  keep  his  promise  if  he  catches  you  hi 
Cairo.  In  fact,  Leonard,  you  had  better  take  to  the 
woods,  as  the  colored  man's  brother  remarked."  Mr* 
Swett  took  Mr.  Lincoln's  advice  and  kept  out  of  Gen. 
Grant's  bailiwick. 

To  resume  the  story  of  Gen.  Grant's  rapid  advance 
to  prominence  during  the  Civil  War,  I  will  merely 


108  REMINISCENCES 

record  facts  which  came  under  my  own  personal  ob- 
servation. We  had  not  been  long  together  at  Mexico, 
Mo.,  when  the  Twenty-first  Illinois  (Grant's  regiment) 
was  transferred  posthaste  to  Pilot  Knob,  Mo.  The 
Twenty-fourth  Illinois  (the  Hecker  regiment)  soon 
followed,  going  through  St.  Louis  and  taking  the  Iron 
Mountain  Railroad  over  to  Pilot  Knob.  While  pass- 
ing through  St.  Louis  I  was  attacked  by  malarial  fever 
which  necessitated  my  remaining  in  St.  Louis  under 
medical  care.  After  a  couple  of  weeks'  treatment  by 
the  best  physicians  I  could  find  in  St.  Louis  I  was 
ready  to  rejoin  my  regiment,  when  I  received  a  letter 
from  Col.  Hecker  advising  me  to  remain  in  St.  Louis 
until  he  came  there  and  consulted  with  me  about  rais- 
ing a  company  of  mounted  artillery  to  be  attached  to 
our  regiment.  Col.  Hecker  soon  made  his  appearance 
in  St.  Louis,  where  he  unfolded  to  me  his  plans  about 
the  recruiting  of  that  company  of  mounted  artillery, 
and  asked  me  to  effect  an  order  from  General  John  C. 
Fremont,  commanding  the  Department  of  the  West, 
for  permission  and  an  order  to  establish  a  recruiting 
office  at  St.  Louis.  When  asked  why  he  did  not  make 
the  application  himself,  since  his  position  as  colonel 
of  the  regiment  would  exert  greater  influence  upon 
Gen.  Fremont  than  my  position  as  major,  he  replied 
that  I  could  more  easily  obtain  that  permission  through 
Gen.  Fremont's  chief  of  staff,  Gen.  Alexander  Asboth, 
a  fellow  exile  and  a  good  friend  of  mine.  As  this 
argument  was  unanswerable,  I  consented  to  under- 
take the  task  after  receiving  Col.  Hecker's  official  ap- 
plication in  writing. 


GEN.    JOHN    C.    FSEMONT  1Q9 

GEN.  JOHN  C.  FREMONT  AND  HIS  BRILLIANT  STAFF 

A  few  words  here  about  Gen.  John  C.  Fremont 
might  not  be  amiss.  There  was  no  general,  and  I 
might  say  no  West  Point  officer  who  entered  the  field 
of  activity  during  the  Civil  War  who  had  the  prestige 
or  was  as  well  known  to  the  people  of  the  country  as 
was  the  Pathfinder  and  the  first  presidential  candidate 
of  the  Republican  party.  President  Lincoln,  wishing 
to  do  honor  both  to  the  man  and  to  the  party  whose 
standard  bearer  Fremont  had  been  in  1856,  appointed 
him  major  general  and  commander  of  the  Department 
of  the  West.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  Fremont,  like 
George  B.  McClellan,  was  an  excellent  organizer,  but 
rather  dilatory  in  striking  the  blow  that  would  dis- 
concert the  enemy.  He  surrounded  himself  with  a 
brilliant  staff,  mostly  Hungarians  and  officers  of  the 
late  Hungarian  republic,  among  whom  was  Col.  As- 
both,  who,  while  interned  in  Turkey,  was  Kossuth's 
aide  and  factotum.  Col.  Asboth  was  later  made  briga- 
dier general  and  given  a  command  of  a  division.  He 
repeatedly  distinguished  himself  in  battle,  not  only 
during  the  Civil  War,  but  also  during  the  Hungarian 
struggle  against  Austria  and  Russia.  He  was  a  dashing 
cavalry  officer.  He  was  twice  wounded,  the  last  time 
his  left  cheek  bone  being  broken  and  his  left  arm 
fractured  in  two  places.  He  was  breveted  major  gen- 
eral March  13,  1865,  resigning  five  months  later.  In 
1866  he  was  appointed  United  States  minister  to  the 
Argentine  Republic  and  Uruguay,  where  he  died  from 
the  wound  in  his  face,  January  21,  1868.  Then  there 
was  Col.  Fiala,  also  a  Hungarian  exile,  who  held  the 


HO  REMINISCENCES 

rank  of  major  in  the  Hungarian  army.  Then  last, 
but  not  least,  was  Capt.  Zagonyi,  the  organizer  and 
commander  of  the  famous  "Fremont  bodyguard,"  con- 
sisting of  four  companies  of  horsemen.  He  recruited 
one  in  St.  Louis,  one  in  Cincinnati,  one  in  Kentucky, 
and  one  in  Wisconsin.  Captain,  afterwards  Major 
Zagonyi,  commenced  recruiting  the  St.  Louis  company 
August  10,  1861,  and  on  the  12th  the  company  was 
complete.  The  uniform  of  the  bodyguard  was  of  a 
dark  blue  material  and  very  neat ;  their  horses  were  all 
selected  by  Maj.  Zagonyi.  The  bodyguard  numbered 
about  150  fighting  men,  and  their  dash  at  Springfield, 
Mo.,  where  with  150  men  they  attacked  2,000  of  the 
enemy  and  routed  them,  equalled  the  charge  of  the 
Six  Hundred  at  Balaklava,  immortalized  by  Tennyson. 
They  lost  in  this  impetuous  dash  52  men  in  killed  and 
wounded,  or  over  thirty-three  per  cent  of  their  fight- 
ing force,  with  a  loss  of  40  horses.  This  battle  oc- 
curred on  the  25th  of  October.  I  never  could  learn 
why  this  splendid  body  of  cavalry  was  ordered  to  be 
disbanded  and  mustered  out  of  service  immediately 
after  Fremont's  return  to  St.  Louis  from  his  expedi- 
tion in  quest  of  Gen.  Price,  and  his  removal  from  the 
command  of  the  Department  of  the  West. 

General  Fremont's  staff  was  organized  according 
to  European  military  rules,  and  it  was  efficient  enough 
to  evolve  plans  in  the  office,  but  these  plans  were  not 
executed  with  sufficient  promptitude  to  bear  good 
results. 

Although  I  was  not  versed  in  the  science  of  the 
higher  tactics  and  strategy,  I  could  form  a  correct 
opinion  of  the  fruitless  activity  and  waste  of  time  at 


JESSIE   BENTON   FEEMONT 

Gen.  Fremont's  headquarters,  where,  during  full  two 
weeks  I  danced  attendance  before  I  could  gain  ad- 
mission to  Gen.  Fremont's  presence.  I  doubt  whether 
there  was  as  much  difficulty  and  ceremony  displayed 
in  gaining  an  audience  with  any  emperor  or  king  as 
there  was  in  order  to  be  ushered  into  the  presence  of 
Fremont  at  St.  Louis.  Gen.  Prentiss,  who  commanded 
a  brigade  under  Gen.  Fremont  at  that  time,  could  bear 
witness,  were  he  alive,  to  what  I  say.  Many  times 
during  the  two  weeks  which  I  spent  at  Fremont's 
headquarters  did  Gen.  Prentiss  complain  to  me  that, 
although  he  wished  to  see  the  department  commander 
on  official  business,  he  was  unable  to  do  so.  I  subse- 
quently learned  what  that  official  business  referred  to. 
It  was  connected  with  his  refusing  to  be  placed  under 
the  orders  of  the  recently  appointed  brigadier  general, 
U.  S.  Grant,  claiming  his  commission  antedated  that 
of  Grant. 

JESSIE  BENTON   FREMONT 

When  at  last  I  was  admitted  into  the  presence  of 
Gen.  Fremont  I  was  awestricken  by  the  splendor  of 
the  room  in  which  he  received  his  visitors.  Right 
opposite  the  entrance  to  this  room  was  a  large  pier 
glass  mirror,  behind  which  stood  Mrs.  Jessie  Benton 
Fremont,  whence  she  could  hear  every  word  of  the 
conversation  held  between  the  general  and  his  visitors. 
I  was  afterwards  told  that  she  invariably  observed 
that  rule,  without  regard  to  who  the  visitor  or  visitors 
might  be.  I  was  further  informed  that  the  general 
never  gave  a  decisive  answer  on  any  subject  unless  he 
had  first  consulted  Mrs.  Fremont. 


113  REMINISCENCES 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  when  Gen.  Fremont  left 
St.  Louis  on  the  26th  of  September,  1861,  with  his 
army,  composed  of  Gen.  Franz  Sigel  and  Gen.  Asboth's 
division,  he  never  failed  to  report  daily  every  incident 
of  his  movements  and  camp  life  to  Mrs.  Fremont. 

My  interview  with  Gen.  Fremont  referred  exclu- 
sively to  his  permission  that  I  should  establish  a  re- 
cruiting station  in  St.  Louis  for  the  enlistment  of  a 
company  of  mounted  artillery,  the  company  to  be 
incorporated  into  the  Twenty-fourth  Illinois  regiment. 
The  permission  was  granted.  I  doubted  at  the  time 
whether  Gen.  Fremont  had  the  authority,  without  the 
sanction  of  the  War  Department,  to  give  such  a  per- 
mission, but  it  was  not  for  me  to  question  the  order 
given  me  by  my  colonel  nor  the  propriety  of  Gen. 
Fremont's  approval  of  my  application. 

RECRUITING  FOR  MOUNTED  ARTILLERY 

I  at  once  secured  a  recruiting  office,  where  I  in- 
stalled two  men — a  sergeant  and  a  corporal — of  my 
regiment.  To  do  this  it  took  about  ten  to  fourteen 
days,  when  I  concluded  to  rejoin  my  regiment  at  Iron- 
ton,  Mo.  Having  telegraphed  my  orderly  to  have  my 
horse  waiting  for  me  at  Pilot  Knob,  the  terminal  of 
the  Iron  Mountain  Railroad,  I  took  the  train  for  that 
point.  On  arriving  there  I  was  greatly  surprised  to 
learn  from  my  orderly  that  Col.  Hecker,  with  the  larger 
portion  of  the  regiment,  had  been  sent  by  Gen.  Grant 
to  Frederickton  to  effect  a  junction  with  Cape  Girar- 
deau,  and  move  thence  to  Cairo.  Arrived  at  Ironton 
I  went  direct  to  Gen.  Grant's  headquarters,  which  was 
in  a  tent  in  a  grove.  The  general  being  out  I  intro- 


BIDE    WITH    GEN.    GBANT 

duced  myself  to  Capt.  Rawlins,  who  subsequently  be- 
came chief  of  staff  during  Gen.  Grant's  military 
career,  and  after  the  latter's  election  to  the  presidency, 
his  Secretary  of  War.  The  general  soon  appeared  and 
he  gave  me  a  short  resume  of  the  incidents  that  led 
him  to  send  the  Twenty-fourth  to  Frederickton.  He 
would  not  advise  me  to  try  and  join  the  regiment 
without  any  escort,  as  the  country  was  swarming  with 
guerillas ;  consequently  I  had  to  wait  until  an  oppor- 
tunity offered  itself  for  my  joining  an  expedition,  either 
to  Cape  Girardeau,  or  else  I  would  have  to  return  to 
St.  Louis  and  go  thence  to  Cairo,  where  I  would  ulti- 
mately join  my  regiment. 

HORSEBACK   RIDE  WITH   GENERAL   GRANT 

On  the  day  following  my  arrival  at  Ironton,  an 
Ohio  regiment  of  infantry  was  to  arrive  there  and  be- 
come part  of  Gen.  Grant's  brigade,  and  the  general 
came  down  to  my  tent,  inviting  me  to  accompany  him 
in  a  horseback  ride  in  quest  of  a  good  camping  ground 
for  the  Ohio  regiment.  Our  ride  of  two  hours'  dura- 
tion can  never  be  effaced  from  my  memory,  for  al- 
though my  tactiturn  riding  companion  did  not  betray 
any  marked  traits  of  great  generalship,  by  his  silence 
and  quiet  listening  to  my  recital  of  events  connected 
with  the  war  which  Hungary  waged  against  the  com- 
bined armies  of  Austria  and  Russia,  in  which  I  was  a 
participant,  still  he  impressed  me  as  being  a  deeply 
thinking  man,  by  his  many  questions  relating  to  that 
war,  its  cause,  and  the  reason  for  its  unlucky  closing. 
He  showed  a  familiarity  with  the  traits  and  characters 
of  the  various  generals  engaged  in  that  war.  Before 


EEMINISCENCES 

leaving  this  subject  I  can  not  refrain  from  giving  here 
my  humble  testimony  to  the  magnanimity  of  the  man 
who,  arrived  at  the  zenith  of  his  victory  over  a  fallen 
foe,  advised  the  Confederate  prisoners  to  retain  their 
swords  and  horses  and  have  the  first  turned  into  plow- 
shares and  the  latter  into  working  animals,  and  whose 
last  parting  word  to  them  was :  "Let  us  have  peace." 

COLONEL  RANSOM 

In  one  of  his  letters  to  his  friend,  the  Hon.  E.  B. 
Washburn,  Gen.  Grant  wrote :  "If  you  are  acquainted 
with  Senator  Collamore  of  Vermont,  I  would  be 
pleased  if  you  would  say  to  him  that  there  is  a  young 
colonel  of  the  Eleventh  Illinois  regiment,  a  native  of 
his  state,  that  I  have  taken  a  great  interest  in,  for  his 
gallantry  and  worth.  I  mean  Colonel  Ransom.  He 
has  now  been  wounded  three  times  in  separate  en- 
gagements, but  never  showed  a  willingness  to  relin- 
quish his  command  until  the  day  was  decided,  and  al- 
ways declines  leave  to  recover  from  his  wounds,  lest 
something  should  transpire  while  absent."  I  quote 
the  above  extract  describing  the  gallant  traits  of  Col. 
Ransom,  as  a  tribute  to  the  general's  generous  appre- 
ciation of  Col.  Ransom's  self-sacrificing  patriotism,  as 
well  as  a  tribute  to  Col.  Thos.  E.  G.  Ransom  himself, 
who,  before  the  war  broke  out,  had  been  a  friend  of 
mine  while  in  the  employ  of  the  Hon.  A.  J.  Galloway's 
real  estate  office  in  Chicago.  He  enlisted  as  major  of 
the  Eleventh  Illinois,  Col.  Wallace  commanding..  He 
was  made  colonel  of  the  regiment  Feb.  2,  1862,  and 
brigadier  general  Nov.  29,  1862.  He  served  through 
the  Civil  War,  always  distinguishing  himself  by  his 


PERSONAL   EXPLANATIONS  H5 

gallantry.    He  finally  died  Oct.  29,  1864,  from  wounds 
received  at  Sabine  crossroads  in  April,  1864. 

PERSONAL  EXPLANATIONS 

I  have  now  reached  the  point  in  my  Reminiscences 
where  I  shall  have  to  ask  the  indulgence  of  my  readers 
if  I  should  weary  them  with  the  account  of  my  strug- 
gles against  Col.  Hecker,  who  illegally  endeavored 
to  force  me  out  from  the  regiment  which  I  had  organ- 
ized at  an  expense  of  time  and  money,  and  put  into 
my  place  one  who,  by  his  Machiavelian  intrigues  and 
jovial  entertainments  given  to  the  colonel,  was  more 
to  the  latter's  liking.  The  trouble  with  me  was  I 
could  not  join  the  colonel  in  his  periodical  drinking 
orgies. 

Just  as  I  was  preparing  to  leave  St.  Louis  for 
Cairo,  in  order  to  join  my  regiment,  I  learned  that  the 
destination  had  been  changed  from  Cairo  to  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.,  to  join  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  Gen.  Grant  sent  the  larger  part 
of  the  regiment  to  form  a  junction  with  Cape  Girar- 
deau  early  in  September;  that  Gen.  Prentiss  was 
spending  much  valuable  time  in  St.  Louis  at  Gen. 
Fremont's  headquarters,  seeking  to  establish  the  prior- 
ity of  his  rank  as  brigadier  general  over  that  of  Gen. 
Grant.  Gen.  Prentiss  was  fully  aware  of  my  mission 
in  St.  Louis,  as  I  told  him  of  it  not  once,  but  on 
several  occasions  while  we  were  both  waiting  to  gain 
an  audience,  and  still  we  see  him  go  back  and  approve 
an  illegitimate  order  for  my  retirement  from  the  regi- 
ment. I  do  not  attribute  any  wilfull,  malicious  intent 
to  do  me  injury,  but  ignorance  and  a  total  lack  of 


EEMINISCENCES 

military  ethics.  It  was  never  heard  of  for  a  mere 
brigadier  general  to  retire  an  officer  on  account  of 
sickness,  without  even  the  least  vestige  of  a  medical 
examination  and  the  knowledge  of  the  officer  himself. 
On  the  17th  of  September  I  received  through  the 
mail  the  following  extraordinary  letter: 

"Fort  Holt,  Sept.  16th,  1861. 
Julian  Kune,  Esq. : 

In  accordance  with  general  order  No.  6,  issued  by 
Gen.  Prentiss  on  the  29th  day  of  August,  1861,  I  have 
to  notify  you  again  that  you  have  been  honorably  dis- 
charged from  further  service  in  my  regiment,  on  ac- 
count of  the  state  of  your  health,  which  unfits  you  to 
bear  the  hardships  of  the  campaign. 

I  sent  this  notice  to  your  address  in  Chicago  imme- 
diately after  the  order  was  issued,  but  it  seems  that 
you  have  not  received  that  communication. 

You  are  therefore  requested  not  to  recruit  any 
more  for  my  regiment,  as  your  functions  in  the  same 
have  expired  on  the  29th  of  August  last. 

Respectfully, 
(Signed)   FREDERICK  HECKER, 

Col.  24th  Ills.  Vols." 

On  receipt  of  this  at  my  recruiting  office,  the  ad- 
dress of  which  was  well  known  to  Col.  Hecker,  I 
immediately  went  to  Gen.  Fremont's  headquarters, 
complaining  of  this  unheard  of  proceeding  on  the  part 
of  both  Gen.  Prentiss  and  Col.  Hecker.  Upon  listen- 
ing to  my  complaint  the  adjutant  general  of  the  West- 
ern Department  issued  the  following  order : 


PERSONAL   EXPLANATIONS  H? 

"Hdqrs.  Western  Dept.,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Sept.  17,  1861. 
Special  Order  209. 

Major  Julian  Kune,  24th  Ills.  Volunteers,  will  pro- 
ceed to  join  his  regiment  at  Washington.  By  order 
of  General  Fremont. 

I.  C  KELTON,  Asst.  Adj.  Genl." 

Meanwhile  the  Twenty-fourth  Illinois  was  ordered 
to  Louisville,  Ky.,  where  Brig.  Gen.  Anderson  was  in 
command  of  the  Department  of  the  Cumberland.  As 
soon  as  I  could  close  up  my  recruiting  office  and  set- 
tle up  outstanding1  accounts  against  the  regiment,  such 
as  rent,  etc.,  I  proceeded  to  Louisville  via  Cincinnati, 
immediately  after  the  railroad  accident  to  the  Nine- 
teenth Illinois  Volunteers,  by  which  scores  were  killed 
and  wounded.  Arrived  at  Louisville  I  presented  Gen. 
Fremont's  special  order  209  to  Gen.  Anderson,  who 
endorsed  the  order  in  a  most  extraordinary  way,  show- 
ing, as  it  subsequently  turned  out,  that  he  was  not  a 
commander  entirely  free  from  vacillation  where 
prompt  decision  was  required. 

General  Anderson's  endorsement: 

"Headqrs.  Dept.  Cumberland, 
Louisville,  Ky.,  Sept.  30,  '61. 

The  gentleman  bearing  this  order  presented  him- 
self to  me  (Major  Kune)  this  day,  but  as  I  learn  from 
him  and  from  papers  presented  to  me  by  Col.  Hecker, 
that  a  question  has  been  of  long  standing  embracing 
facts  and  proper  investigation  of  which  is  necessary 
to  ascertain  whether  or  not  he  is  an  officer  of  the  regi- 


118  REMINISCENCES 

ment,  I  shall  refer  the  whole  matter  to  the  Governor 
of  Illinois,  whose  province  it  is  to  decide  who  are 
entitled  to  commissions  in  this  regiment.  I  have  no 
time  to  attempt  the  investigation  of  this  case. 

(Signed)  ROBERT  ANDERSON, 

Br.  Genl.  U.  S.  Army." 

On  receiving  this  surprising  endorsement  upon  a 
special  order  issued  by  a  higher  officer  of  the  army, 
there  was  nothing  left  for  me  to  do  but  to  take  back 
tracks  to  Springfield,  111.,  and  to  appeal  to  Governor 
Yates,  and  here  is  what  he  wrote: 

"Gen'l  Headquarters  State  of  Ills. 
Oct.  3d,  1861. 
Special  Order  No.  1294 : 

It  is  hereby  certified  that  under  executive  order 
of  the  26th  of  August,  1861,  a  commission  was  issued 
to  Julian  Kune  as  Major  of  the  Twenty-fourth  regi- 
ment of  Illinois  Volunteers,  bearing  date  August  26th, 
1861,  and  ranking  him  as  Major  from  the  17th  day  of 
June,  '61,  and  that  no  other  order  has  been  issued  from 
this  department  touching  the  right  of  Major  Kune  to 
his  commission,  and  unless  the  United  States  authori- 
ties have  in  some  legal  manner  suspended  his  powers 
as  Major,  he  is  still  entitled  to  be  recognized  as  such. 

(Signed)  THOMAS  S.  MATHER, 
Approved  Oct.  3,  1861.  Adjt.  General  Illinois. 

RICHARD  YATES,  Governor." 

While  I  was  engaged  in  Springfield  in  securing  the 
above  certificate  from  Governor  Yates,  Gen.  Anderson 
had  been  relieved  from  his  command  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Cumberland  and  in  his  stead  Brig.  Gen. 


PEBSONAL   EXPLANATIONS  U9 

W.  Tecumseh  Sherman  was  placed.  This  change  wat 
really  no  surprise  to  me,  as  I  did  not  think  Gen.  An- 
derson's executive  abilities  of  sufficient  strength  to 
cope  with  the  situation  that  existed  then  in  the  border 
states  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 

Never  having  met  Gen.  Sherman  before,  and  not 
wishing  to  be  treated  like  I  had  been  by  Anderson, 
I  decided  to  go  direct  to  Washington  and  lay  my  case 
before  the  War  Department.  It  is  proper  for  me  to 
remark  here  that  after  the  issuance  of  Gen.  Prentiss' 
illegal  order  depriving  me  of  my  rank  as  major,  sev- 
eral officers  of  the  Twenty-fourth  Illinois,  seeing  the 
gross  injustice,  embraced  my  cause.  These  officers 
appointed  a  committee  composed  of  myself,  Capt. 
Augustus  Mauff  and  Lieut.  E.  F.  C.  Klokke,  to  go  to 
Washington  and  submit  our  grievances  to  the  War 
Department. 

Thanks  to  the  good  offices  of  my  friends  in  the 
War  Department  and  in  President's  Lincoln's  house- 
hold, we  soon  secured  the  following  order: 

"War  Department,  Adjutant  General's  Office. 
Washington,  Oct.  14,  1861. 
Special  Order  No.  278: 

In  accordance  with  the  decision  of  the  Secretary 
of  War,  Major  Julian  Kune,  Capt.  Augustus  Mauff  and 
2nd  Lieut.  E.  F.  C.  Klokke,  24th  Illinois  Vols.,  now 
in  this  city,  will  repair  to  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  report 
to  Brig.  General  W.  T.  Sherman,  commanding1  Depart- 
ment of  the  Cumberland,  for  duty  with  the  regiment. 

By  order,  C.  R.  GAUSCH, 

Asst.  Adjt  Genl." 


120  BEMINISCENCES 

Four  days  later  General  Sherman  issued  the  follow- 
ing order: 

"Headquarters  Department  of  the  Cumberland. 
Louisville,  Ky.,  October  18th,  1861. 
Special  Order  No.  61 : 

Major  Julian  Kune,  Capt.  Augustus  Mauff  and  2nd 
Lieut.  E.  F.  C.  Klokke,  24th  Ills.  Vols.,  having  re- 
ported at  these  headquarters  in  obedience  to  special 
orders  No.  278  War  Department,  Adjt.  Gen'ls  office, 
will,  in  conformity  to  the  instructions  of  the  Secretary 
of  War,  repair  to  Colesburgh,  the  camp  of  their  regi- 
ment, and  report  to  the  colonel  thereof  for  duty  with 
the  regiment. 

By  command  of  Brig.  Genl.  Sherman. 

(Signed)  OLIVER  D.  GREEN, 

Asst.  Adjt.  Genl." 

One  would  suppose  that  the  colonel  would  have 
bowed  in  obedience  to  the  above  order  of  Gen.  Sher- 
man, but  not  so  with  our  so-called  hero  of  Baden,  who 
gloried  in  his  contempt  for  laws,  whether  enacted  in  a 
free  commonwealth  like  the  United  States  or  in  a  des- 
potic dukedom,  whence  he  was  expelled. 

Armed  with  the  above  order  I,  accompanied  by 
Capt.  Mauff  and  Lieut.  Klokke,  reported  at  once  to 
the  colonel  of  our  regiment  in  camp  at  Colesburg,  Ky. 
His  reception  was  cold  and  surly,  simply  saying: 
"Well,  major,  you  may  take  charge  of  the  dress  parade 
this  afternoon  and  have  General  Sherman's  order  read 
to  the  regiment,"  In  conformity  with  this  order  I 


PERSONAL    EXPLANATIONS  121 

conducted  the  dress  parade  and  had  Gen.  Sherman's 
order  read.  This  done,  I  retired  to  the  tent  which  had 
been  reserved  for  me,  and  while  quietly  sitting  on  a 
camp  stool  I  was  startled  by  the  sound  of  a  pistol 
shot  and  by  the  whistling  of  a  ball  through  my  tent, 
perforating  the  canvas  on  two  ends.  I  immediately 
reported  this  attempt  to  assassinate  me  to  the  colonel, 
with  a  request  to  incorporate  my  report  in  his  daily 
report  to  Gen.  Sherman.  The  colonel,  however,  in- 
stead of  reporting  the  incident  as  given  to  him  by  me, 
reported  an  entirely  different  story  about  the  shooting 
episode  While  willing  to  sacrifice  my  life  on  the  field 
of  battle,  I  did  not  wish  to  be  assassinated  in  camp, 
so  I  myself  wrote  a  full  report  of  the  incident  and  sent 
it  to  headquarters  at  Louisville.  My  report  evidently 
had  been  forwarded  with  that  of  Col.  Hecker  to  Wash- 
ington, for  in  due  course  of  time  came  an  order  from 
the  Secretary  of  War,  accompanied  by  a  letter  from 
Gen.  Sherman  to  Col.  Hecker,  the  vital  portions  of 
which  I  give,  as  follows: 

"Adjutant  General's  Office. 
Washington,  October  14,  1861. 
To  Brigadier  General  W.  T.  Sherman, 
Commanding  Dept.  of  the  Cumberland, 

Louisville,  Ky. 
General : 

The  following  decision  of  the  Secretary  of  War  in 
the  matter  of  the  officers  of  the  24th  Regt.  of  Ills. 
Vols.  is  respectfully  furnished  for  your  information, 
viz.: 


US  BEMINISCENCIS 

1st.  That  the  order  discharging  the  officers,  who 
had  been  duly  commissioned  and  mustered,  is  not  valid 
until  ratified  by  the  War  Department;  that  the  War 
Department  has  not  raitfied  it,  but  has  ordered  them 
to  be  restored. 

2nd.  That  consequently  the  officers  appointed  to 
their  places  must  be  mustered  out  and  discharged,  and 
both  sets,  the  officers  in  fact  and  of  right,  may  be 
entitled  to  pay  for  the  time.  The  error  in  the  case 
was  not  their  error.  But  the  question  of  the  pay  of 
the  officers  pro  tem  ought  to  be  reserved  for  the 
special  decision  of  the  War  Department  after  all  the 
facts  of  their  appointment  and  service  are  ascertained. 

That  with  such  relations  between  the  colonel  of  a 
regiment  and  his  officers,  the  public  service  may  suf- 
fer ;  the  Lieut.  Col.  has  applied  to  be  transferred  from 
the  command  of  Col.  Hecker. 

(Signed)  THOS.  A.  SCOTT, 

Acting  Sec.  of  War." 

In  accordance  with  the  above  decision,  I  am  in- 
structed to  direct  you  to  restore  the  officers  of  24th 
Ills.  Vols.,  illegally  displaced  by  Col.  Hecker,  and  re- 
port to  this  office  such  further  information  as  you  may 
be  able  to  obtain  relating  to  the  case,  in  order  that  the 
War  Department  may  decide  upon  the  claims  for  pay 
for  the  officers  pro  tempore. 

The  papers  in  this  case  are  respectfully  returned. 
I  am,  General,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
(Signed)  GEO.  D.  RUGGLES, 

Asst.  Adjt.  Genl." 


PERSONAL   EXPLANATIONS  128 

Copy  of  Gen.  Sherman's  letter  to  Col.  Hecker : 

"Louisville,  Ky.,  Oct.  22,  1861. 
Col.  Hecker, 

Commanding  at  Colesburg. 
Sir: 

Yours  of  Oct.  21st  is  received.  I  have  now  a  per- 
fect list  of  charges  against  the  various  officers  of  your 
regiment,  and  it  is  impossible  at  this  time  to  order 
court  martial.  I  again  appeal  to  your  good  sense  to 
heal  this  breach.  Call  your  officers  together  and  see 
whether  you  can  not  act  in  harmony.  It  is  reported 
that  a  pistol  shot  was  fired  at  Major  Kune.  You  ex- 
plain it,  and  I  hope  your  explanation  is  sufficient  to 
satisfy  the  major.  It  is  wrong  that  so  fine  a  body  of 
men  should  be  crippled  by  dissensions  among  the  offi- 
cers at  a  time  of  imminent  public  danger.  Again  I 
say,  these  dissensions  must  be  reconciled;  else  I  may 
be  compelled  to  disband  the  whole,  a  thing  I  do  not 
want  to  do.  Yours, 

(Signed)  W.  T.  SHERMAN,  Brig.  Genl." 

Before  dismissing  this,  to  me,  distasteful  subject, 
I  shall  give  here  a  copy  of  a  letter  which  was  given 
me  by  Governor  Yates  and  addressed  to  General  John 
C.  Fremont,  at  the  inception  of  my  troubles  with  Col. 
Hecker,  which  letter,  however,  I  never  delivered,  as 
I  did  not  wish  to  quit  my  regiment  under  the  implica- 
tion that  General  Prentiss'  order  discharging  me  was 
in  any  sense  legitimate  and  valid. 


124  REMINISCENCES 

Copy  of  Gov.  Yates*  letter  to  Gen.  Fremont : 

"State  of  Illinois,  Sept.  2,  1861. 
Major  General  J.  C.  Fremont, 

Sir :  I  am  desirous  that  Major  Julian  Kune,  of  the 
24th  Regiment  Ills.  Volunteers,  be  permitted  to  leave 
his  regiment  to  assist  in  the  raising  and  formation  of 
a  new  regiment  in  this  state.  We  feel  the  lack  of 
experienced  military  men  in  this  state,  and  I  am  very 
anxious  to  be  able  to  secure  the  services  of  Maj.  Kune, 
and  hope  that  you  will  give  him  the  necessary  leave 
for  this  purpose. 

Your  attention  to  this  will  much  oblige  me. 

Very  respectfully, 
(Signed)  RICH'D  YATES,  Governor." 

I  still  have  in  my  possession  the  original  of  the 
above  letter,  not  wishing  to  deliver  it  while  the  struggle 
with  my  colonel  was  in  progress,  and  by  the  time  I 
had  carried  my  point  and  had  established  my  rights 
General  Fremont  had  been  replaced  by  General  Hunter 
in  the  command  of  the  Department  of  the  West.  I  am 
willing  to  abide  by  the  righteous  judgment  of  those 
who  may  peruse  the  foregoing  official  papers,  as  to 
where  should  be  placed  the  blame  for  this  unfortunate 
affair.  What  I  have  written  was  not  in  a  spirit  of 
animosity,  but  simply  in  behalf  of  eternal  justice! 


PART  VI. 

JOINS  THE  BOARD  OF  TRADE 

After  leaving  the  army  I  devoted  myself  to  busi- 
ness, which  I  pursued  with  fair  success  on  the  Chicago 
Board  of  Trade,  joining  that  institution  in  1863,  while 
John  L.  Hancock  was  its  president.  The  Board  met  in 
the  Newhouse  building  on  South  Water  street.  My 
business  transactions  during  the  interval  between  1863 
and  1866  were  fairly  remunerative,  with  the  exception 
of  one  contract  which  my  partner  had  obtained  from 
the  government  to  furnish  a  certain  quantity  of  oats 
to  be  delivered  at  Cairo,  111.  The  shipments  were 
made  in  time,  but,  owing  to  some  reasons,  which  had 
better  be  guessed  at  than  stated,  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  company  failed  to  move  them  forward  and 
they  were  thus  left  on  our  hands  when  the  war  closed. 
As  they  could  not  be  sold,  carload  after  carload  was 
dumped  into  the  Mississippi  river. 

Having  always  had  a  leaning  towards  literature, 
music  and  art,  I  spent  my  leisure  hours  in  attending 
concerts,  operas  and  lectures.  At  the  solicitation  of 
Lieutenant  Governor  Shuman,  a  friend  of  mine,  who 
was  the  editor  of  the  Chicago  Evening  Journal,  I  edited 
the  musical  part  of  the  paper.  It  was  while  thus  en- 
gaged during  a  number  of  years  that  I  made  the 
acquaintance  of  nearly  all  the  celebrated  concert  and 
opera  singers  of  that  day. 

In  the  spring  of  1865  Chicago  celebrated  the  open- 
125 


REMINISCENCE* 

ing  of  its  first  temple  of  music  in  the  inauguration  of 
the  Crosby  Opera  House,  Mr.  Jacob  Grau  specially 
organizing  an  opera  troupe  for  the  occasion.  The 
opera  given  was  Verdi's  "II  Trovatore."  I  wonder 
whether  this  opera  was  ever  given  with  better  success 
than  during  that  inauguration  night.  The  artists  of 
the  troupe  consisted  of  Mesdames  Carozzi  Zuchi,  Clara 
Louise  Kellogg  and  Morensi;  Signori  Massimiliani, 
Mazzolini,  Lotti  and  Susini. 

Crosby's  Opera  House  marked  a  new  epoch  in 
Chicago's  musical  history.  Before  its  erection  on 
Washington  street,  between  Dearborn  and  State 
streets,  musical  entertainments  were  mostly  given  dur- 
ing the  fifties  in  Metropolitan  Hall,  corner  Randolph 
and  La  Salle  streets.  It  was  there  that  the  youthful 
Adelina  Patti,  under  the  management  of  her  brother- 
in-law,  Maurice  Strakosh,  electrified  Chicago's  music 
lovers  of  that  day.  During  the  sixties  Metropolitan 
Hall  had  to  give  way  to  the  modernized  Bryan  Hall, 
where  most  of  the  famous  artists  appeared.  There  was 
also  Farwell  Hall,  where  Moody  and  Sanky  held  re- 
vival meetings;  Hans  Balatka,  with  his  orchestra — 
the  forerunner  of  the  Thomas  orchestra — gave  many 
entertaining  musical  feasts  in  both  Farwell  and  Metro- 
politan Halls.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  building  of 
Crosby's  Opera  House  was  revolutionary.  It  was  the 
first  attempt  of  Chicago's  music  loving  people  to  build 
a  temple  worthy  of  the  rapidly  growing  metropolis  of 
the  West.  The  erection  of  this  stately  building  was 
hailed  with  joy  by  the  people  of  the  whole  northwest, 
for  nothing  like  it  had  been  attempted  before  west  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia. 


JOINS  THE  BOARD  OF  TBADB 

Reading  over  the  various  accounts  of  the  opening 
of  this  temple  of  music,  we  find  that  both  oratory  and 
poetry  contributed  their  share  in  doing  honor  to  their 
next  kin,  music.  Also,  that  the  inaugural  ceremonies 
had  to  be  postponed  owing  to  the  national  bereave- 
ment (the  assassination  of  Abraham  Lincoln)  April 
14,  1865.  That  the  orator  of  the  occasion  was  Geo.  C. 
Bates,  an  eminent  lawyer  of  this  city,  and  the  inaug- 
ural ode  recited  was  from  the  pen  of  a  Chicago  bard, 
Mr.  W.  H.  C.  Hosmer.  It  was  a  gala  night  for  Chicago 
and  would  have  been  more  so  had  not  the  saddening 
national  bereavement  cast  its  shadow  over  the  whole 
country. 

Of  the  numerous  artists  whom  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  and  listening  to  during  the  period  of  my 
quasi  position  as  musical  critic,  I  can  remember  but 
a  few  whom  I  knew  not  only  as  artists  but  also  as 
friends  off  the  stage.  Those  who  have  gone  through 
the  experience  of  writing  criticisms  on  the  perform- 
ances of  either  dramatic  or  musical  artists  are  aware 
that  the  vocation  is  not  an  enviable  one.  For  the 
jealousy  of  the  artist  is  so  inherent  in  most  of  them 
that  if  the  critic  bestows  a  little  more  praise  on  the 
performance  of  one  artist,  the  others  of  the  troupe  are 
up  in  arms  against  him.  He  must  be  just,  though  in- 
offensive; he  must  praise  the  good  points  without 
needlessly  laying  bare  the  weak  points  of  the  artist. 
Above  all,  the  critic  should  be  fearless  of  giving  his 
opinions  without  cavil  or  favor. 

Through  my  intimate  acquaintanceship  with  some 
of  the  impresarios,  such  as  Jacob  Grau,  Max  Strakosch 
and  C.  D.  Hess,  I  came  to  know  off  the  stage  artists 


128  REMINISCENCES 

like  Picolomini,  Paulina  Cannissa,  Parepa  Rosa,  Min- 
nie Hauck,  Susan  Galton,  Caroline  Richings,  Salvini, 
Ristori,  and  a  few  others. 

The  disastrous  defeat  of  Austria  in  the  Italian  war 
of  1859,  and  the  victory  which  Prussia  won  in  1866 
over  Austria,  at  Koniggraetz  and  Sadowa,  broke  the 
chains  which  Austria  had  riveted  around  the  neck  of 
Hungary.  We  all  knew,  when  we  were  driven  into 
exile,  that  the  time  would  come,  sooner  or  later,  when 
We  would  be  permitted  to  revisit  our  native  heath. 
The  war  between  Prussia  and  Austria  demonstrated 
to  the  latter  that  without  the  voluntary  consent  of  the 
Hungarian  nation  the  Austrian  army  was  weak  and 
easily  crushed.  Whole  regiments  of  Hungarian  troops 
refused  to  fight,  and  went  over  to  the  enemy.  This 
resulted  in  the  so-called  "Ausgleich"  (compromise) 
between  Austria  and  Hungary,  whereby  the  latter  ob- 
tained every  point,  save  independence,  for  which  she 
fought  in  1848-49,  and  for  which  we  had  been  exiled 
and  forbidden  to  revisit  our  country  for  eighteen  years. 
A  general  amnesty  was  proclaimed,  enabling  all  politi- 
cal exiles  to  return.  The  desire  to  revisit  my  native 
land  seized  me,  which  desire  I  was  unable  to  satisfy 
until  about  1869,  just  one  year  after  the  cholera  had 
visited  Chicago.  Besides,  through  the  influence  of  my 
friends,  Messrs.  Wm.  B.  Ogden,  Jonathan  Young 
Scammon,  and  some  others,  the  city  council  elected 
me  South  Side  city  assessor,  which  office  I  held  during 
the  cholera  year. 

In  1869  for  the  first  time  in  twenty  years  I  visited 
my  native  country.  The  feelings  which  I  experienced 
on  beholding  the  vine-clad  hills  of  Buda  are  indescrib- 


FISST   HOME   VISIT  129 

able.  It  seemed  as  if  I  had  been  suddenly  dropped 
from  one  existence  into  another  dreamland.  Gradually 
things  became  more  familiar,  and  I  soon  accommo- 
dated myself  to  my  new  surroundings. 

FIRST   HOME  VISIT   IN   TWENTY  YEARS 

During  this  first  visit  I  met  my  old  Chicago  friend, 
Joseph  Breck,  who  in  1855  was  the  tutor  of  Mr.  J. 
Young  Scammon's  son.  He,  too,  availed  himself  of 
the  amnesty  and  returned  to  Hungary,  to  his  native 
county,  where  he  was  elected  to  the  Hungarian  Diet. 
He  subsequently  was  elected  F6  Ispan,  the  highest 
executive  office  in  the  county,  and  while  accompanying 
(in  1879)  King  Francis  Joseph  on  his  tour  to  ex- 
amine the  distress  occasioned  by  the  floods,  which 
nearly  wiped  out  Szegedin  and  other  cities  adjacent  to 
the  river  Tisza,  he  was  thrown  from  his  carriage 
(drawn  by  spirited  horses,  who  took  fright),  subse- 
quently dying  of  his  injuries. 

I  have  made  several  visits  to  Europe  subsequent 
to  my  first  to  Hungary.  I  have  met  many  persons, 
both  in  Budapest  and  Vienna,  distinguished  in  art, 
music  and  statesmanship.  Of  authors  I  remember  with 
great  pleasure  the  celebrated  traveler,  Mr.  Armenius 
Vambery,  who,  disguished  as  a  dervish,  traveled  all 
over  Bokhara,  Khiva  and  Samarkand  in  1864  and  1865. 
He  is  the  author  of  various  valuable  works  treating  on 
his  travels,  and  various  Oriental  languages.  He  also 
wrote  a  very  interesting  work  on  Russia's  aggressive 
and  encroaching  policy  in  Central  Asia.  I  repeatedly 
met  him  at  the  dinner  table  in  a  modest  restaurant  at 
Pest.  He  had  just  returned  from  his  extensive  tour  in 


180  BEMINISCENCE* 

Persia,  so  that  his  conversation  was  replete  with  most 
interesting  incidents  of  his  travels.  He  occupied  the 
chair  of  Professor  of  Oriental  Languages  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pest  at  the  time  I  met  him.  The  next  per- 
son of  prominence  I  met  during  my  visit  to  Pest  was 
Francis  Pulsky.  He  was  then  a  member  of  the  Diet, 
and  worked  in  harmony  with  Deak,  the  eminent  states- 
man. He  was  an  ardent  follower  of  Kossuth,  and 
came  with  him  to  the  United  States  in  1851.  He  also, 
like  Kossuth,  was  condemned  to  death  by  the  Austrian 
government,  but  was  included  in  the  general  amnesty 
after  Austria's  crushing  defeat  by  Prussia  in  1866. 
Both  Pulsky  and  his  wife,  Madame  Pulsky,  are  well 
remembered  by  old  timers  of  New  York  and  Boston. 
I  must  not  omit  mentioning  my  meeting  Mr.  Joseph 
Pulitzer,  then  of  the  St.  Louis  Post  and  Dispatch, 
while  both  of  us  made  a  call  on  Mr.  Hazman,  then 
the  mayor  of  Buda.  If  I  remember  rightly,  Mr.  Pulit- 
zer was  a  member  of  the  Missouri  legislature  at  the 
time  I  met  him  at  Buda.  I  also  met  Colonel  Tur, 
whom  I  had  known  while  both  of  us  were  living  as 
exiles  in  London.  Col.  Tur  had  one  of  the  most 
romantic  careers.  After  being  exiled,  he  went  to  Lon- 
don, where  he  stayed  but  a  short  time  before  going  to 
France,  where  subsequently  he  became  acquainted 
with  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps,  of  Suez  Canal  fame,  whom 
he  assisted  in  the  digging  of  the  canal.  Having  a  fine 
personality,  he  soon  found  favor  at  the  court  of  Napo- 
leon III.  Empress  Eugenie,  whose  special  favorite  he 
became,  brought  about  his  marriage  to  one  of  her 
favorite  court  ladies.  Prior  to  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war  between  Prussia  and  France,  General  Tur,  as  h« 


MISTING   ARTISTi  181 

was  then  known,  was  entrusted  with  a  private  mission 
to  Bismarck,  before  the  final  breaking  off  of  negotia- 
tions. After  the  fall  of  the  Second  Empire  he  returned 
to  Hungary,  where  he  was  employed  by  the  govern- 
ment in  his  capacity  as  civil  engineer  in  regulating  the 
courses  of  the  various  rivers  and  in  the  digging  of 
canals. 

During  my  visits  to  Budapest,  Count  Andrassy  was 
at  the  helm  of  the  Hungarian  government,  and  Fran- 
cis Deak  was  the  power  behind  the  throne.  Francis 
Deak  was  one  of  the  strongest  characters  in  Hungary's 
history.  During  the  first  period  of  the  Hungarian  rev- 
olution he  was  minister  of  justice,  but  when  Hungary 
had  declared  its  independence,  Deak  laid  down  his 
portfolio  and  refused  to  follow  Kossuth  in  his  extreme 
radicalism.  Lawyer  as  he  was,  he  believed  in  regain- 
ing Hungary's  constitutional  rights  legally,  and  as  a 
member  of  the  Austrian  Empire.  It  is,  however,  a 
mooted  question  whether  his  Utopian  expectations 
would  ever  have  been  realized  had  it  not  been  for  Aus- 
tria's disastrous  defeat  by  Napoleon  in  the  Italian  war 
of  1859,  and  the  great  defeat  at  Koniggraetz  and 
Sadowa  in  1866  by  Prussia. 

MEETING   ARTISTS 

Of  great  artists  during  my  visits  to  the  European 
continent  I  may  mention  Anton  Rubinstein,  the  great 
Russian  composer  and  pianist.  It  was  fortunate  for 
the  music-loving  public  of  the  United  States  that  I 
happened  to  be  in  Vienna  while  Jacob  Grau,  the  im- 
presario, was  negotiating  with  Rubinstein  about  his 
engagement  for  a  tour  in  this  country.  In  the  midst 


132  REMINISCENCES 

of  the  negotiations,  before  the  signing  of  the  contract, 
Mr.  Grau  had  a  stroke  of  paralysis,  which  completely 
incapacitated  him  from  doing  any  business  whatsoever. 
In  fact,  he  lost  his  power  of  speech,  which  he  never 
regained.  I  took  up  the  thread  of  these  negotiations 
and  brought  them  to  a  satisfactory  close,  both  with 
Mr.  Rubinstein  and  Winiawski,  the  famous  Polish 
violinist. 

During  that  very  same  year  (1872)  I  had  the  pleas- 
ure of  listening  to  the  performance  of  these  artists  at 
Aikin's  Opera  House  on  Wabash  Avenue,  the  only 
hall  available  then  in  burnt-down  Chicago. 

During  my  frequent  visits  to  Mr.  Rubinstein's 
apartments  in  Vienna  I  had  the  opportunity  of  appre- 
ciating his  value  as  a  man,  husband  and  father,  as 
well  as  an  artist.  He  frequently  led  the  orchestra  in 
concerts  given  by  the  Wiener  Maenner  Gesang 
Freunde.  On  one  occasion,  while  he  was  wielding  the 
baton  the  great  Franz  Liszt  was  presiding  at  the  organ 
in  the  Wiener  Allegemeine  Musikhalle. 

My  list  would  be  incomplete  were  I  to  omit  Etelka 
Gerster,  the  famous  Hungarian  prima  donna,  whom  I 
first  met  in  Budapest  while  residing  with  her  brother- 
in-law,  Mr.  I.  S.  Kauser,  the  American  consul  in  that 
city.  I  often  had  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  her 
remarkable  flute-like  voice  long  before  she  appeared 
in  public.  In  1879  she  electrified  the  Chicago  musical 
public  in  several  concerts  given  at  Farwell  Hall.  She 
also  appeared  in  grand  opera.  Not  long  ago  she  vis- 
ited her  brother,  who  is  a  leading  physician  in  New 
York. 

Of  statesmen,  both  American  and  European,  I  had 


PERIODICAL   VISITS    TO   BUDAPEST  133 

occasion  to  meet  many,  but  most  of  them  during  the 
Franco-Prussian  war  in  1870,  and  some  years  follow- 
ing. I  will  refer  to  them  in  the  order  I  met  them. 

PERIODICAL  VISITS  TO  BUDAPEST 

During  the  summer  of  1870  I  made  my  annual  visit 
to  Budapest,  and  as  above  stated,  I  spent  much  of  my 
time  with  Mr.  Kauser  the  American  consul.  I  should 
state  here  that  Mr.  Kauser,  although  a  native  of  Hun- 
gary, had  for  several  years  resided  in  New  York  and 
became  naturalized. 

While  in  the  consul's  yard  watching  the  laying 
down  of  the  Nicholson  pavement  as  an  experiment, 
the  consular  clerk  brought  out  to  me  a  cablegram  of 
the  following  purport:  "Julian  Kune,  care  American 
consul,  Pest,  Hungary.  Go  to  siege  of  Paris.  Answer. 
Paid.  White."  This  was  an, entirely  unexpected  turn 
in  my  plans.  I  had  intended  to  visit  Russia,  but  as 
Mr.  Horace  White,  a  friend  whom  I  highly  esteemed, 
was  then  the  editor-in-chief  of  the  Chicago  "Tribune," 
I  took  his  suggestion  as  an  order.  Besides,  the  ardent 
military  spirit  of  my  youthful  days  was  rekindled,  so 
I  immediately  accepted  the  position  of  war  correspon- 
dent. I  had  been  for  years  the  correspondent  of  the 
"Tribune"  from  various  points  I  visited  during  my 
travels  in  Europe,  so  it  was  not  a  new  thing  to  me. 

I  at  once  bade  my  friend,  Mr.  Kauser,  good  bye  and 
left  the  same  night  of  the  day  I  received  the  cable  for 
Berlin.  Arrived  at  Berlin,  I  at  once  called  on  my  old 
friend,  Henry  Kreisman,  the  United  States  consul  gen- 
eral, through  whose  kindly  introduction  to  a  local 
banker  I  was  enabled  to  replenish  my  exchequer,  as  I 


134  BEMINISCENCES 

knew  that  a  war  correspondent  has  to  spend  money 
quite  freely.  Speaking  of  Mr.  Kreisman,  my  Chicago 
old-time  friends  will  remember  him  as  a  progressive 
German  citizen.  In  the  fifties  he  had  been  elected 
city  clerk  during  John  C.  Haines'  administration,  and 
during  1860  was  secretary  to  the  Republican  National 
Committee,  of  which  N.  B.  Judd  was  chairman.  After 
Lincoln's  election  he  was  appointed  secretary  of  lega- 
tion to  Ambassador  N.  B.  Judd  at  Berlin.  On  Mr. 
Judd's  return  to  this  country  Mr.  Kreisman  was  ap- 
pointed consul  general  at  Berlin,  which  position  he 
creditably  filled  for  several  years.  He  visited  this 
country  only  once  since  1870,  and  that  was  in  1881 
with  Henry  Villard,  the  one-time  newspaper  reporter 
and  afterwards  the  president  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
Railroad. 

It  took  me  longer  to  get  my  passport  vised,  and 
obtain  the  necessary  permit  from  the  Berlin  military 
authorities,  to  follow  the  advancing  German  army, 
than  I  had  supposed.  At  one  time  it  seemed  to  me 
as  if  the  authorities  were  disposed  to  oppose  my  join- 
ing the  army,  but  thanks  to  the  influence  exerted  in 
my  behalf  by  Mr.  George  Bancroft,  our  ambassador 
at  Berlin,  and  Mr.  Kreisman,  the  permit  was  granted 
to  me  in  the  following  brief  rescript: 

"Alle  civil  und  militarbehorden  werden  hierdurch 
ersucht  dem  Vorzeiger  Dieses,  Herrn  Julian  Kune, 
Schiitze  und  Hiilfe  zu  leisten.  Berlin,  den  12ten  Sep- 
tember, 1870.  (Signed)  V.  S.  WINDT,  Major."  The 
translation  of  which  is :  "All  civil  and  military  author- 
ities are  herewith  requested  to  extend  all  protection 
and  aid  to  the  bearer  of  this,  Mr.  Julian  Kune."  The 


FOR  THE  SEAT  OF  WAR 

seal  of  the  chief  general  staff  of  the  King's  army  was 
attached  to  this  precious  document,  that  would  open 
to  me  the  forbidden  path  leading  to  the  King's  head- 
quarters, wherever  that  might  be.  Armed  with  all 
necessary  documents  I  left  Berlin  on  the  17th  of 
September 

FOR   THE   SEAT  OF   WAR 

The  distance  from  Berlin  to  Cologne  is  about  74 
German  miles,  which,  during  the  Franco-Prussian  war, 
was  made  in  about  ten  hours,  which  was  fairly  good 
time  in  those  days  for  German  railroads  to  make.  At 
Cologne  I  had  to  change  cars  for  Lebramont,  Belgium, 
which  I  reached  in  about  eight  hours.  At  Lebramont 
ended  my  further  progress  by  rail.  Fortunately,  just 
before  reaching  Madgeburg  I  made  the  acquaintance 
of  a  gentleman  traveling  in  the  same  compartment 
with  myself,  who  was  an  official  of  the  Prussian  gen- 
eral post-office  department,  and  who  was  on  his  way 
to  the  army  before  Paris,  for  the  purpose  of  establish- 
ing mail  communications  between  Berlin  and  the 
King's  headquarters  before  Paris.  The  new  route  was 
to  be  via  Belgium  to  Sedan,  then  via  Rheims,  Cha- 
teaux Thiery,  Epernay  and  Meaux.  It  took  five  days 
for  the  transit  of  mail  between  Berlin  and  Paris  via 
Saarbruecken,  Pont  Mousson  and  Nancy,  via  the  old 
route. 

As  fast  as  the  German  army  advanced  towards 
Paris  the  post-office  department  closely  followed  it. 
And  no  sooner  was  a  French  city  or  town  taken  pos- 
session of  by  the  German  troops  when  Prussian  post- 
office  officials  took  charge  of  the  post-office  of  such 


136  REMINISCENCES 

city  or  town  and  made  prompt  connections  with  the 
post-office  department  at  Berlin. 

TRIP  THROUGH   BELGIUM 

As  mentioned  above,  I  was  fortunate  in  making  the 
acquaintance  of  this  post-office  official,  as  I  doubt 
whether,  without  his  assistance,  I  could  have  reached 
the  King's  headquarters.  Being  a  government  official 
he  requisitioned  conveyances  from  time  to  time,  and 
he  invited  me  to  share  the  necessary  expenses  with 
him,  for  he  invariably  paid  cash  for  every  mile  over 
which  the  requisitioned  conveyance  took  us. 

At  Lebramont,  Belgium,  my  post-office  friend  and 
myself  started  to  engage  a  chaise  to  take  us  to  the 
next  station,  Bouillon,  but  the  owner  of  the  chaise 
asked  such  an  exorbitant  price  that  we  refused  to  pay 
it,  but  availed  ourselves  of  the  offer  of  a  Johanniter 
(a  kind  of  a  Red  Cross  representative)  to  whom  we 
showed  our  papers,  to  use  his  chaise.  The  driver  was 
a  Belgian  cavalry  soldier,  and  he  drove  at  such  a 
breakneck  pace  that  we  were  in  constant  danger  of 
being  overturned.  The  road  ran  all  along  the  Ar- 
dennes, up  and  down  hill,  and  the  scenery  was  most 
picturesque.  The  horses  we  had  were  captured  French 
horses,  which  the  Prussian  military  authorities  fur- 
nished to  the  Belgians  for  the  purpose  of  transporting 
the  wounded  to  the  designated  hospitals.  On  the  road 
we  met  scores  of  French  cuirassiers,  guarded  by  Bel- 
gian frontier  artillerymen,  on  their  way  to  various 
places  where  they  were  to  be  confined  during  the  dura- 
tion of  the  war.  Belgium,  which  had  been  the  buffer 


TKIP    THROUGH    BELGIUM  137 

state  between  Germany  and  France,  was  compelled  to 
strictly  observe  the  laws  of  neutrality. 

After  a  three  hours'  drive  \ve  arrived  at  Bouillon, 
which  was  a  very  dirty  town.  Its  narrow  streets  re- 
minded me  very  much  of  the  towns  and  cities  of  Syria 
and  Palestine.  The  place  was  filled  to  overflowing 
with  the  wounded  of  the  battle  of  Sedan.  We  could 
find  no  shelter  for  the  night.  At  one  place  I  asked 
permission  to  occupy  the  kitchen  floor,  but  it  was 
refused  to  me.  Finally,  after  hours  of  searching,  we 
found  a  place  where  a  Belgian  physician  was  going  to 
vacate  his  room.  This  disciple  of  Aesculapius,  al- 
though a  pretended  French  sympathizer,  showed  us 
many  gruesome  and  revolting  remembrances,  which 
he  had  picked  up  on  the  Sedan  battlefield.  He  im- 
pressed me  as  a  human  vampire  who  evidently  pil- 
fered and  robbed  the  dead  and  dying. 

As  the  landlord  was  a  sympathizer  with  the  French 
he  fed  us  on  many  false  and  apocryphal  stories,  one  of 
which  was  that  10,000  Prussians  were  blown  up  at 
Paris ;  that  Paris  was  sufficiently  provisioned  to  stand 
a  siege  of  a  year  or  more.  What  we  would  have  pre- 
ferred was  to  satisfy  our  hunger,  but  all  we  could  get 
was  a  stale  loaf  of  bread,  on  which  we  had  to  make 
our  supper.  Before  cutting  the  loaf  of  bread,  however, 
the  host  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  on  it,  which  he 
thought  would  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  our  hunger. 

The  following  day,  Monday  the  19th,  we  left  Bouil- 
lon at  7  a.  m.,  by  diligence  for  Sedan.  We  had  for 
fellow  passengers  two  gentlemen  and  three  ladies,  one 
of  whom  was  an  old  Irish  lady  who  was  in  search  of 
feer  son,  who  had  been  wounded  at  Sedan.  She  had 


138  REMINISCENCES 

married  a  Frenchman,  and  they  were  residing  in 
France,  and  of  course  her  sympathies  were  strongly 
pro-French.  Indeed,  she  showed  her  antipathy  against 
the  Germans  to  a  ridiculous  point;  for  every  time  we 
passed  a  German  flag  she  turned  her  head  away  front 
it  in  disgust.  She  was  frank  enough  to  tell  me  that 
during  our  Civil  War  her  sympathies  were  with  the 
South,  to  which  I  simply  replied  that,  considering  the 
final  outcome  of  that  war,  it  did  not  make  much  differ- 
ence on  which  side  her  sympathies  were.  Her  hus- 
band, the  old  gentleman,  while  we  were  ascending  a 
hill  together  on  foot,  solemnly  assured  me  that  Prussia 
would  have  to  take  possession  of  the  whole  of  France 
in  order  to  keep  it  by  military  force ;  that  according  to 
the  last  bulletin  issued  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  Le 
Boeff,  France  had  two  million  chassepots,  etc.  Never- 
theless, when  the  Germans  took  charge  of  the  French 
war  materials  at  the  capitulation  of  Paris,  there  were 
but  25,000  chassepots  to  be  found.  There  was  also  a 
young  mademoiselle  who  was  in  search  of  her  fiancee, 
an  officer  in  a  Turco  regiment.  The  German  army 
showed  great  liberality  in  aiding  their  foes  to  find 
their  friends,  dead  or  alive. 

As  we  reached  the  frontier,  the  French  refugees 
increased  in  numbers,  for  a  great  many  French  sol- 
diers preferred  to  become  refugees  in  Belgium  to  be- 
ing taken  prisoners  and  being  sent  to  Germany.  The 
scenery  at  the  frontier,  especially  at  La  Chapelle,  is 
grand  beyond  description,  but,  alas,  who  could  admire 
it  while  on  every  side  were  visible  the  harrowing  signs 
of  the  late  struggle.  At  Givonne,  some  eight  kilo- 
metres from  Sedan,  there  was  hardly  a  house  left  «•- 


SEDAN  139 

touched  by  the  death-dealing  and  house-demolishing 
cannon  balls.  Between  Givonne  and  Digni  the  ground 
was  literally  covered  by  thousands  of  knapsacks, 
haversacks  and  broken  up  arms.  Near  Digni  a  freak 
of  fate  showed  itself  by  leaving  a  tannery  which  was 
situated  in  a  deep  valley,  and  in  the  center  of  the 
fiercely  raging  battle  untouched.  The  rain  of  bullets 
passed  from  hill  to  hill,  leaving  the  factory  building 
unharmed. 

The  owner  of  this  tannery  became  very  rich 
through  the  thousands  of  dead  and  disabled  horses 
which  he  picked  up  on  the  battlefield  and  turned  into 
leather. 

From  La  Chapelle,  ascending  the  summit  of  a  hill, 
the  suburbs  of  Sedan  became  visible.  These  were 
still  in  possession  of  the  Red  Cross  attendants,  and  the 
wounded,  which  filled  nearly  every  house  to  overflow- 
ing. Everywhere,  in  whatever  direction  you  may  turn 
the  eyes,  were  ambulances  and  broken  up  wagons  that 
block  the  passageways  of  the  streets. 

SEDAN 

Although  an  unimportant  little  city  before  the 
Franco-Prussian  war  of  1870,  Sedan  has  become  world- 
wide famous  as  the  place  where  Emperor  Napoleon 
surrendered  his  army  of  83,000  men  of  the  rank  and 
file,  39  Generals,  230  Staff  Officers,  2,600  Officers,  all 
of  whom  including  the  Emperor  and  his  active  Com- 
mander-in-chief, Marshall  McMahon,  became  prisoners 
of  war.  In  order  to  convey  to  my  readers  the  great 
magnitude  of  this  almost  unparalleled  defeat  and  sur- 


140  BEMINISCENCES 

render,  I  will  give  here  some  data  which  I  obtained 
later  at  Versailles  from  official  sources. 

After  the  diastrous  battles  at  Weissenburg,  Saar- 
bruecken,  Woerth  and  Gravelot,  McMahon  had  still 
150,000  men  in  his  command.  He  lost  during  the 
battle  of  Beaumont  25,000,  and  at  Sedan  25,000  men, 
who  were  taken  prisoner,  and  83,000  who  surrendered 
at  the  capitulation.  There  were  besides  44,000  men 
wounded,  while  about  3,000  escaped  to  Belgium.  This, 
with  the  4,000  officers  and  over  50  Generals,  would 
make  the  total  loss  of  150,000  men  at  the  battles  of 
Beaumont  and  Sedan, — an  appalling  loss,  and  one  un- 
paralleled in  modern  warfare.  Besides  the  loss  in  men, 
the  loss  in  war  materials  was  equally  stupendous. 
They  consisted  of  400  cannons,  including  70  Mitrail- 
leuse, 100  heavy  ordnance  guns,  10,000  horses  and  a 
vast  quantity  of  ammunition,  besides  foodstuffs. 

Sedan  is  in  the  department  of  the  Ardennes,  and  it 
is  situated  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river  Meuse  (Ger- 
man Maas)  and  about  thirteen  miles  Southeast  of 
Mezier  by  railway  and  about  the  same  distance  from 
Thionville.  It  is  surrounded  by  hills  of  an  average 
height  of  about  1,000  feet.  It  has  a  fortress,  which 
proved  to  be  the  pitfall  into  which  the  French  army 
was  lured  on  that  fatal  day  of  September  1st,  1870.  It 
passes  the  understanding  of  even  a  tyro  in  military 
tactics  how  an  army  of  150,000  fighting  men,  led  by 
old  veterans  like  McMahon  and  Bazain,  could  have 
been  lured  into  such  a  trap  as  they  were  caught  in. 

After  I  had  met  Gen.  Sheridan  at  Versailles,  the 
General,  who  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Sedan,  told 
me  that  French  bad  generalship  caused  the  capitula- 


SEDAN  141 

tion  of  Sedan.  The  French  rank  and  file  fought  as 
bravely  as  any  troops  he  ever  saw  on  the  field  of  battle. 
He  had  never  seen  a  more  heroic  stand  than  was  made 
by  the  French  marines  at  Bazeilles  under  Martin  des 
Pelliers,  where  thousands  of  Germans  fell  as  victims 
to  French  heroism.  A  museum  and  a  monument  have 
been  erected  at  Bazeilles  in  memory  of  the  heroism 
displayed  by  the  French  marines. 

General  Sheridan  further  told  me  that  if  the  French 
army  had  had  as  good  tacticians  to  lead  them  as  the 
Germans  had,  the  outcome  of  the  war  would  have 
been  different.  His  observations,  during  the  various 
battles  in  which  he  took  part  as  a  guest  of  the  Ger- 
man army,  commanded  respect  among  the  higher  offi- 
cers. So,  for  instance,  at  the  battle  of  Sedan,  while 
the  General,  accompanied  by  General  Forsythe,  was 
watching  the  course  of  the  raging  battle,  and  saw  the 
German  tirailleurs  advancing  up  the  hill  against  the 
heavy  French  columns,  he  remarked  to  those  standing 
around  him :  "The  poor  devils,  they  are  too  weak ;  they 
never  can  gain  that  position  in  the  face  of  all  those 
French."  And  sure  enough,  only  a  few  moments  later 
they  were  compelled  to  retreat  and  to  seek  support. 
A  little  later,  when  the  same  tirailleurs,  after  getting 
support,  advanced  once  more,  it  was  Gen.  Sheridan 
who  first  saw  the  danger  of  their  being  overwhelmed 
by  the  advancing  French  cuirassiers.  He  had  hardly 
spoken  the  words :  "O,  heavens,  the  French  cuirassiers 
will  storm  them,"  when  the  heavy  phalanx  of  French 
cavalry,  like  an  avalanche,  moved  upon  the  Prussian 
sharpshooters.  The  latter,  however,  without  forming  a 
line,  received  the  onslaught  with  a  well-directed  fire  at 


14fc  EEMINISCENCES 

a  distance  of  about  300  feet,  that  brought  down  both 
horse  and  man  by  the  hundreds. 

Although  several  days  had  elapsed  since  the  battle 
was  fought,  all  the  dead  had  not  yet  been  removed 
and  buried.  Soldiers  were  engaged  in  fishing  out  the 
French  cuirassiers  and  their  horses,  who  filled  the 
Meuse,  which  runs  through  the  city.  The  railroad  sta- 
tion, which  had  been  converted  into  a  Lazaret  (Hos- 
pital) was  still  filled  with  the  wounded  and  dying. 
The  town  was  also  filled  to  overflowing  with  French 
prisoners,  waiting  to  be  transported  to  various  parts  of 
Germany,  which,  considering  that  all  railroad  communi- 
cation was  still  at  a  standstill,  was  rather  a  slow  pro- 
ceeding. Scores  of  disabled  locomotive  engines  and 
cars  were  standing  on  the  track  towards  Meziers.  All 
along  the  shores  of  the  river  Meuse  were  freshly  made 
graves  and  burnt-down  houses  seen.  It  was  difficult  to 
tell  which  of  the  numerous  graves  marked  by  little  white 
crosses  contained  the  remains  of  French  or  of  German 
soldiers.  What  a  mockery  this  material  existence  is  after 
all;  here  were  thousands  of  dead  lying  peacefully  in 
eternal  sleep,  who  for  all  we  know,  had  never  met  before 
and  who  individually  never  entertained  any  ill  feeling 
against  each  other;  it  was  a  sad  spectacle.  I  had  seen 
somewhat  of  the  dire  effects  of  war,  during  former  wars, 
but  the  desolation  and  the  cruel  effects  of  warfare  as 
seen  at  Sedan  surpassed  anything  I  had  witnessed.  I 
was  very  glad  to  leave  the  desolate  town  after  a  stay 
of  but  a  few  hours,  in  pursuit  of  the  army  of  the  South 
in  command  of  "Unser  Fritz." 

On  leaving  Sedan,  on  the  19th  of  September,  at  11 
A.  M.,  in  a  diligence,  with  requisitioned  horses  (for  it 


SEDAN  143 

should  be  remembered  that  my  traveling  companion 
was  still  the  Postoffice  Official)  we  espied  to  the  right, 
about  one  mile  from  Sedan,  the  beautiful  Chateau 
Bellevue,  where  Napoleon  met  the  King  of  Prussia  and 
surrendered  to  him  his  sword.  We  next  passed  Don- 
chery,  where  Napoleon  came  to  interview  Bismarck 
anent  the  capitulation.  They  met  in  a  small  house  be- 
longing to  a  weaver.  Dr.  Moritz  Busch,  Bismarck's 
Secretary,  whom  I  subsequently  met  very  often  at 
Versailles,  gave  me  the  following  account  of  that  meet- 
ing between  Napoleon  and  Bismarck : 


PART  VII. 

THE  FRANCO-PRUSSIAN   WAR 

But  before  entering  into  this  narrative,  I  will  briefly 
relate  the  immediate  cause  of  the  Franco-Prussian 
War,  as  related  to  me  by  Dr.  Bush. 

"After  Spain  had  gone  through  the  short  experience 
of  a  Republican  government,  they  decided  to  try  a 
monarchy  once  more,  and  accordingly  called  Prince 
Leopold  of  the  Hohenzollern  family  to  the  throne.  That 
caused  the  greatest  excitement  in  the  Napoleonic  circles 
and  regime.  The  young  prince,  without  consulting  the 
head  of  the  dynasty,  the  King  of  Prussia,  accepted  the 
offer.  King  Wilhelm,  however,  as  well  as  his  Chan- 
cellor, Count  Bismarck,  was  not  in  favor  of  a  Hohen- 
zollern ascending  the  Spanish  throne.  His  ambition 
lay  in  a  different  direction — the  unification  of  the  vari- 
ous German  petty  states  into  one  united  German  Em- 
pire. On  the  4th  of  July,  1870,  the  Duke  de  Grammont 
directed  the  French  Ambassador  at  Berlin  to  go  to 
Emms,  a  watering  place  in  Germany,  where  the  King 
of  Prussia  was  visiting  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  to  ask 
the  King  to  direct  Prince  Leopold  to  withdraw  his  ac- 
ceptance; for  in  case  of  refusal  of  this  request,  war 
would  follow.  On  July  9th,  Benedetti  appeared  before 
the  King  and  asked  him  to  re-establish  quiet  in 
Europe.  The  King  answered  that  he  in  no  wise  en- 
couraged Leopold's  candidacy,  and  that  he  (Benedetti) 

144 


THE   FRANCO-PRUSSIAN   WAR  145 

should  go  to  Madrid  with  his  protest.  On  the  10th, 
Benedetti  repeated  his  demand,  and  on  the  12th  came 
the  report  that  Leopold  had  withdrawn  his  former  ac- 
ceptance. This  should  have  satisfied  the  French,  but 
the  Duke  of  Grammont  (probably  instigated  by  Na- 
poleon, or  the  ambitious  Empress  Eugenie)  asked  still 
further  guarantees  of  the  King,  and  he  asked  that  the 
King  should  apologize  to  the  Emperor,  and  give  writ- 
ten guarantee  that  the  Prince  would  not  accept  again. 
The  King  of  course  refused  to  accede  to  this  humili- 
ating demand,  but  Benedetti,  unabashed,  went  up  to 
the  King  as  the  latter  was  taking  the  train  for  Coblenz 
and  asked  to  speak  to  him ;  whereupon  the  King  curtly 
said  to  him  that  he  had  nothing  more  t6  say  to  him. 
It  seemed  that  Benedetti  fully  expected  this  denoue- 
ment, because  his  master,  Napoleon,  picked  up  the 
Spanish  affair  merely  as  a  pretext  to  get  up  a  quarrel." 
The  King  left  the  watering  place  July  15th,  two 
weeks  sooner  than  he  intended.  As  he  was  to  take  the 
train,  a  large  crowd  of  people  gathered  at  the  station 
to  bid  him  good-bye,  when  he  addressed  them:  "I 
hope  to  see  you  again.  God  is  my  witness  that  I  do 
not  want  war,  but  if  I  should  be  compelled  to  wage 
war,  I  shall  defend  Germany's  honor  to  the  last  man." 

On  the  19th  of  July,  the  French  Ambassador  de- 
livered to  Count  Bismarck  the  formal  declaration  of 
war. 

The  French  people  completely  lost  their  heads. 
After  Sedan,  Napoleon  declared  that  he  did  not  want 
the  war,  but  that  the  French  people  fairly  drove  him 
into  it.  Judging  from  the  way  they  acted  after  war 
had  been  declared,  there  must  have  been  some  truth  in 


146  REMINISCENCES 

Napoleon's  assertion.  They  walked  the  streets  singing 
impromptu:  "We  eat  breakfast  at  Cologne,  dine  in 
Berlin,  and  eat  our  supper  at  Konigsberg."  Immedi- 
ately the  French  army  was  placed  on  a  war  footing, 
and  the  one  commanded  by  McMahon  named  "The 
Army  of  the  Rhine,"  which  however,  never  saw  the 
Rhine.  Napoleon  hurried  to  Metz  on  the  28th  of  July, 
only  nine  days  after  he  declared  war  again  Prussia, 
taking  with  him  his  son  and  a  vast  amount  of  luggage, 
just  as  if  he  were  going  to  a  dress  parade. 

The  Germans,  on  the  other  hand,  on  August  7, 
1870,  quietly  formed  three  army  corps:  The  army  of 
the  South,  commanded  by  "Unser  Fritz,"  the  Crown 
Prince,  Frederick  William;  the  second  army  com- 
manded by  the  "Red  Prince,"  Friederich  Carl,  cousin 
of  the  Crown  Prince;  while  one  army,  the  first,  was 
commanded  by  General  v.  Steinmetz.  The  King  as- 
sumed the  supreme  command,  with  von  Moltke  as 
Chief  of  Staff,  On  the  5th  of  August  the  battle  of 
Weissenburg  was  fought;  on  the  6th  the  battle  of 
Worth  took  place;  and  the  battles  of  Saarbruecken, 
Metz,  Mars  La  Tour,  Gravelot  and  Sedan  had  been 
fought,  in  every  one  of  which  the  French  had  been  de- 
feated, and  all  these  world-stirring  events  took  place 
within  the  short  time  of  six  weeks,  a  feat  never  before 
equaled  in  the  history  of  wars. 

But  to  resume  the  narrative  of  the  incidents  con- 
nected with  the  capitulation  of  the  French  army  under 
Napoleon,  as  given  by  Dr.  Bush,  private  secretary  to 
Bismarck: 

"After  the  fate  of  the  entrapped  French  army  in 
Sedan  had  been  sealed  by  the  uniting  of  the  Prussian 


THE    FRANCO-PEUSSIAN   WAR  147 

and  Saxon  regiments,  which  formed  almost  a  complete 
circle  around  Sedan,  the  battle,  although  fierce  in  the 
extreme,  suddenly  ceased  at  5  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
Five  minutes  later  a  French  officer,  escorted  by  two 
Uhlans,  appeared  at  a  sharp  trot  ascending  the  hill 
from  Sedan.  One  of  the  escorting  Uhlans  had  a  white 
handkerchief  tied  to  a  stick.  Arrived  at  the  King's 
Headquarters,  which  was  at  the  village  of  Vendresse 
on  a  hill,  the  officer  alighted  and  asked  to  be  informed 
on  what  conditions  the  capitulation  of  Sedan  with  its 
army  would  be  accepted.  After  a  short  consultation 
between  the  King  and  von  Moltke,  he  was  informed 
that  in  a  matter  of  such  importance  it  would  require 
an  officer  of  high  rank  to  negotiate  with.  He  was  told 
to  return  to  Sedan  and  to  inform  the  Governor  of 
Sedan  to  appear  at  once  before  the  King  of  Prussia, 
and  should  he  not  be  there  within  three-quarters  of  an 
hour,  the  battle  would  be  at  once  resumed.  There 
would  be  no  conditions  given, — "an  unconditional  sur- 
render is  demanded." 

The  officer  rode  back,  but  at  about  6:30  P.  M.,  a 
loud  hurrahing  was  heard,  with  the  interjection :  "The 
Emperor  is  here."  Ten  minutes  later  General  Reille 
presented  himself  with  a  letter  from  Napoleon,  ad- 
dressed to  the  King.  As  soon  as  the  French  General 
was  seen  coming,  a  double  line  of  cuirassiers  and 
dragoons  formed  itself  behind  the  King.  In  front  of 
this  line  stood  the  members  of  the  general  staff,  and 
ten  paces  ahead  was  the  King  himself,  ready  to  receive 
the  General,  who  placed  the  Emperor's  letter  in  the 
former's  hands.  The  letter  consisted  of  the  following : 
"As  it  was  not  destined  for  me  to  die  at  the  head  of 


148  REMINISCENCES 

my  troops,  I  surrender  my  sword  into  the  hands  of 
your  Majesty."  ("N'ayant  pas  pu  mourir  a  la  tete  de 
mes  troupe  je  depose  mon  epee  a  votre  Majeste.") 

After  a  short  consultation  with  Bismarck,  von 
Moltke  and  von  Roon,  who  had  meanwhile  joined  the 
King's  followers,  the  latter  took  his  seat  on  the  straw 
seat  of  a  stool,  while  two  adjutants  improvised  a  table 
by  holding  up  in  front  of  him  another  stool,  whereon 
he  wrote  to  the  Emperor  a  request  to  repair  to  Ven- 
dresse,  the  King's  headquarters,  on  the  following 
morning.  Then  he  gave  this  letter  personally  to  Gen- 
eral Reille. 

On  the  following  morning  the  King  and  the  Em- 
peror met  at  Villa  Bellvue.  The  conference  lasted  but 
15  minutes.  Both  King  and  Emperor  were  deeply 
moved,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  closing  sentence 
of  the  letter  which  King  William  wrote  to  Konigin 
Augusta,  describing  the  capitulation  of  Sedan  and  the 
surrender  of  the  army :  "We  were  both  greatly  moved 
over  thus  meeting  again."  "It  is  impossible  for  me  to 
describe  to  you  my  feelings,  when  I  remembered  that 
only  three  years  have  passed  away  since  I  saw  Na- 
poleon at  the  zenith  ofi  his  power." 

The  negotiations  for  the  capitulation  were  carried 
on,  as  previously  stated,  at  Doncherry,  in  a  weaver's 
house,  where  Napoleon  first  met  Bismarck.  The  Iron 
Chancellor  afterwards  confessed  that  the  interview 
was  anything  but  pleasant  to  him.  He  said  that  while 
waiting  for  Moltke,  von  Roon  and  General  Wimpfen 
to  close  the  negotiations  for  the  surrender  of  the  army, 
he  sat  alone  with  Napoleon  in  the  humble  weaver's 
room,  and  he  felt  like  the  young  man  at  a  ball,  who 


FBOM    SEDAN    TO    MEAUX  149 

had  engaged  a  girl  for  the  cotillion,  had  not  a  word  to 
say  to  her,  and  heartily  wished  that  someone  would 
take  her  away. 

I  was  in  Berlin  a  few  days  after  the  surrender  at 
Sedan,  and  while  looking  at  the  material  composing 
the  German  army,  I  could  easily  comprehend  the  cause 
of  the  collapse  of  the  French  armies,  that  were  op- 
posed to  the  German  soldiers.  There  were  200,000  men 
of  the  reserve  corps  around  Berlin  waiting  for  march- 
ing orders,  and  as  I  watched  regiment  after  regiment 
march  along  with  elastic  step,  I  did  not  wonder  any 
longer  at  the  signal  success'  their  comrades  in  the  field 
had  already  attained.  French  elan  was  no  match  for 
German  stolidity  and  determination.  "It  was  an  army 
of  Spartans  with  spectacles  on  their  noses." 

I  could  plainly  see  the  German  victory  before  me,  in 
the  quiet  but  determined  talk  of  the  Berliners.  From 
the  King  down  to  the  street  sweeper,  they  were  all 
ready  to  sacrifice  life  if  need  be.  A  good  illustration 
of  the  King's  patriotism  was  current  at  the  time  In 
Berlin.  A  very  wealthy  Berliner,  who  had  an  only 
son,  petitioned  the  King  to  have  him  exempted  from 
military  service  after  having  been  drafted, — to  which 
the  King  replied  that  he  too  had  an  only  son,  and  that 
not  only  his  son,  but  he  himself,  had  to  go  to  save  the 
Fatherland.  The  Minister  of  War,  von  Roon,  had  one 
son  killed  and  one  wounded. 

FROM  SEDAN  TO  MEAUX 

To  resume  my  itinerary  from  Sedan  to  Meaux, 
where  the  King's  headquarters  was  said  to  be.  We 
reached  Poix,  and  here  we  went  to  an  Auberge  (Inn) 


150  BEMINISCENCES 

where  a  woman  was  the  proprietress.  She  could  give 
us  nothing  to  satisfy  our  hunger;  she  was  a  perfect 
actress — she  complained  that  only  very  recently  she 
had  150  soldiers  billetted  on  her,  and  never  got  a  sou. 
She  didn't  care  whether  France  was  a  Republic  or  an 
Empire,  if  only  the  potatoes  would  be  left  to  them. 
She  thought  that  all  people  (with  a  side  glance  at  us) 
would  be  better  off  in  their  own  country. 

Shaking  the  dust  of  this  inhospitable  place  off  our 
feet,  we  left  it,  after  stopping  an  hour  to  feed  our 
horses.  The  scenery  around  Poix  continued  to  be  fine. 
As  one  reaches  the  summit  of  a  hill,  the  view  extends 
for  miles  around.  An  abandoned  railroad,  with  a  great 
number  of  cars  laying  idly  around,  was  discerned  in 
the  distance.  This  reminds  me  to  record  here  an  opin- 
ion to  the  effect  that  the  German  soldiers  were  not  as 
good  at  railroad  repairing  as  they  were  at  fighting. 
They  were  unlike  our  boys  during  the  Civil  War,  who, 
the  minute  a  railroad  was  reached  and  an  old  engine 
with  any  kind  of  rolling  stock  was  scared  up,  managed 
to  open  transportation  by  rail.  In  talking  this  matter 
over  with  General  Sheridan,  he  fully  agreed  with  me. 
The  battle  at  Saarbruecken  had  been  fought  over  a 
month  ago,  and  still  the  railroads  to  Pont  a  Musson 
and  Nancy  were  in  such  a  chaotic  state  that  they  could 
not  carry  passengers.  The  railroad  through  the  whole 
of  the  Marne  valley  showed  but  little  damage.  The 
greatest  damage  was  caused  by  the  unnecessary  de- 
struction of  bridges.  At  Lagni  alone  the  destruction 
of  two  bridges  (one  a  suspension  bridge)  must  have 
caused  a  loss  of  at  least  2,000,000  francs.  This  de- 
stroying bridges  in  modern  warfare  is  a  waste  of  time 


AEEIVAL   AT    LAGNI  151 

and  money,  for  a  pontoon  bridge  can  be  built  across  a 
river  in  but  a  few  hours.  At  Lagni  over  the  Marne  it 
was  built  by  the  German  army  in  about  two  hours. 
Just  outside  Sedan  we  saw  the  canal  that  connects  the 
Meuse  with  the  Marne  and  the  Seine,  leading  to  Paris, 
but  it  showed  no  signs  of  activity  or  life. 

Arrived  at  Rethel  we  were  furnished  with  an  es- 
cort by  the  German  Commandant  of  a  Saxon  regiment, 
which  brought  us  to  Reims  at  9 :30  P.  M.  We  stopped 
here  for  refreshments,  and  to  change  our  horses,  until 
midnight,  when  we  again  left  under  the  protection  of 
an  escort,  with  a  fresh  relay,  for  Epernay,  the  very 
center  of  the  champagne  country.  Leaving  Epernay  at 
4  A.  M.  we  reached  Chateau  Thiery  at  11  A.  M.  of  the 
20th.  Here  we  once  more  changed  our  relay  and  es- 
cort, and  arrived  at  Meaux  at  3 :30  P.  M.  Here  we 
learned  that  the  King's  headquarters  had  been  ad- 
vanced to  Lagni,  so  we  had  to  take  one  more  relay  and 
escort,  with  which  we  reached  Lagni  at  8  P.  M.  of  the 
20th,  the  goal  of  our  fatiguing  journey. 

The  whole  distance  to  Lagni  from  Libramont  (Bel- 
gium) where  we  took  the  chaise,  is  about  280  kilo- 
metres, and  it  took  us  forty  consecutive  hours  to  make 
it,  while  ordinarily  by  rail  the  journey  is  made  in  about 
four  hours. 

ARRIVAL  AT  LAGNI 

On  learning  that  the  King  had  left  Lagni  and  taken 
up  his  headquarters  at  Ferrier  in  Baron  Alphonse 
Rothschild's  castle,  we  concluded  to  remain  at  Lagni 
overnight,  and  stopped  at  the  Hotel  de  Renaissance. 
The  accommodations,  and  the  food  especially,  sug- 
gested the  necessity  of  a  renaissance,  but  the  same 


152  REMINISCENCES 

story  we  heard  all  over  the  route  we  came:  "Les 
Prussiens  ont  prit  tout  ce  que  nos  aviont."  ("The 
Prussians  have  taken  all  we  had.")  No  patriotic 
Frenchman  could  be  made  to  believe  that  it  was  not 
the  Prussians,  but  the  Wuertenbergers  and  the  Sax- 
ons, who  were  their  unwelcome  guests.  All  Germans 
were  to  them  Prussians.  It  reminded  me  of  the  early 
days  in  Chicago,  when  every  foreigner,  whether  Ger- 
man, French,  or  Hungarian,  was  designated  by  the  uni- 
versal patronymic  of  "Dutchman." 

It  is  true  that  the  country  we  had  traversed  from 
Sedan  to  Langi  looked  desolate  and  changed  in  ap- 
pearance since  only  a  year  before  I  crossed  it  by  rail 
from  Paris  to  Brussels.  There  was  hardly  a  town  that 
escaped  more  or  less  damage.  For  the  sake  of  the 
Truth,  I  must  say  that  the  discipline  of  the  Wuerten- 
bergers was  slack  and  uncontrolable,  while  that  of  the 
Prussians  was  exemplary. 

The  whole  region  between  Sedan  and  Lagni,  which 
we  had  traversed,  had  the  aspect  of  having  been  de- 
populated by  some  sudden  catastrophe.  Neither  young 
men  nor  young  women  were  visible.  We  could  ac- 
count for  the  absence  of  the  young  men,  they  having 
been  claimed  by  the  army,  but  we  could  not  explain 
why  the  young  women  should  have  abandoned  their 
homes.  This  feature  connected  with  the  Franco-Prus- 
sian War  could  be  explained  only  on  the  hypothesis 
that  the  French  looked  upon  the  invaders  of  their 
country  as  being  no  less  barbarous  than  the  Tartars 
were  under  Ghenges  Khan  or  Tamerlane.  My  land- 
lord in  Versailles,  a  very  intelligent  member  of  the 
French  bar,  after  asking  him  the  reason  for  his  family's 


WALK  TO  FEERIEB  153 

departure  for  the  South  of  France,  and  leaving  him  to 
take  care  of  his  house  and  home,  confided  to  me  that 
the  women  were  afraid  of  the  Prussians.  One  thing, 
however,  was  noticeable,  that  the  towns  occupied  by 
the  Wuertenbergers  showed  plain  evidence  of  having 
been  pillaged,  while  those  occupied  by  the  Prussians, 
Saxons  and  Badenese  bore  hardly  any  signs  of  being 
roughly  used  or  the  inhabitants  maltreated. 

Lagni  had,  prior  to  the  invasion,  a  population  of 
about  4,000,  consisting  mostly  of  wealthy  Parisians, 
who  owned  Villas  there,  and  spent  the  hot  summer 
months  in  that  place.  After  having  retired  for  the 
night,  a  fire  broke  out  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
of  my  hotel.  The  fire  was  traced  to  some  Wuerten- 
berger  soldiers,  who  imbibing  too  liberally  of  the  wine 
they  found  in  the  cellars,  started  to  burn  up  the  town. 
Fortunately  the  French  population  had  melted  down  to 
only  about  300,  mostly  men,  so  that  there  was  no 
casualty  before  the  patrol  guards  promptly  extin- 
guished the  fire  and  arrested  some  of  the  malefactors. 
To  the  shame  of  the  Wuertenberger  officers  I  must 
say  that  their  behavior  was  not  any  better  than  that  of 
their  soldiers.  I  witnessed  myself  a  scene  which  made 
by  blood  boil.  A  score  of  these  Wuertenberger  offi- 
cers, after  having  been  served  with  dinner  and  all  the 
wine  they  could  consume,  refused  to  pay,  and  simply 
laughed  in  the  face  of  the  cashier,  who  was  a  young 
French  woman.  "Oh,"  she  burst  out,  "if  I  were  a  man 
I  would  show  my  countrymen  how  to  fight." 

WALK  TO   FERRIER 

On  the  following  morning  after  my  arrival,  I  walked 
over  to  Ferrier,  about  9  kilometers  distant,  where  I 


154  REMINISCENCES 

had  to  go  to  Col.  von  Verdy  of  the  general  staff  to 
obtain  from  him  permission  to  remain  within  the  lines 
of  the  King's  army.  It  was  not  such  an  easy  matter 
to  reach  that  important  individual.  As  I  approached 
the  main  gate  of  the  extensive  Park  in  which  Baron 
Rothschild's  castle  stands,  a  civilian  whom  I  took  to  be 
a  Frenchman  asked  me  in  French  where  I  was  going. 
On  answering  him  in  german  that  I  would  like  to  find 
the  kanzlei  (office)  of  the  general  staff.  He  politely 
requested  me  to  show  him  my  legitimations  papiere 
(papers  of  identification).  After  examining  them,  he 
directed  me  to  take  a  side  path  towards  the  building, 
but  before  I  had  progressed  twenty  feet  I  was  once 
more  accosted  in  German  by  a  well  dressed  gentleman, 
who  asked  me  whom  I  wished  to  see.  After  telling 
him,  he  led  me  to  the  door  of  the  general  staff  office, 
where  I  was  taken  charge  of  by  an  orderly,  who  led 
me  into  the  private  office  of  Col.  von  Verdy,  to  whom 
I  delivered  a  letter  from  Mr.  Henry  Kreisman,  who 
knew  him  personally.  The  Colonel  received  me  most 
kindly,  and  assured  me  that  I  would  be  afforded  all 
possible  facilities  within  the  lines  of  the  army  of  the 
Crown  Prince  to  observe  and  to  report  all  its  move- 
ments to  the  Chicago  Tribune  by  mail  only;  and  if  I 
wished  to  send  anything  by  cable,  I  would  have  to  sub- 
mit it  to  the  military  censor,  who  would  decide  whether 
the  interests  of  the  service  would  permit  its  being  sent. 
The  Colonel  thereupon  had  made  out  the  permit,  which 
he  signed,  and  which  would  be  the  open  sesame  that 
would  give  me  access  to  all  the  military  cantonments 
of  the  besieging  army. 


Grosses  Haupt  -  Quartier 

IS®:?  JiJ&vi  3s3  $&  iiaSJ  I^iOtl 

•u 

Chef  des  Generalslabes 
dor  Amice. 

N° 


COPY    OF    THE    BOYAL    PEEMIT  155 

COPY  OF  THE  ROYAL  PERMIT 

H.  Q.  Ferrieres,  September  21,  1870. 
Grosses  Haupt-Quartier 
Seiner  Majestat  des  Konigs 

Chef  des  General  stabes  der  Armee. 
Dem  Vorzeiger  dieses,  Herrn  Julian  Kune  ist  es 
gestattet,  sich  im  Bereiche  der  operirenden  Armee  auf- 
zuhalten. 

Alle  Behorde  werden  ersucht  demselben  dabei  keine 
Schwierikeien  in  den  weg  zu  legen. 

Von  Seiten  des  General  Quartiermeister. 

(Signed)         V.  Verdy, 

Oberstleutenant  und  Abtheilungschef  wie  zum   Gen- 
eral stab. 
,       (Seal  of)  Hauptquartier, 

Seiner    Majestats    des    Koenings   chef   des    General 
Stabs  der  grossen  armee. 

Translation. 

H.  Q.  Ferrieres,  September  21,  1870. 
Great  Headquarters  of  his 
Majesty  the  King  Chief  of 
the  General  staff  of  the  Army. 

Permission  is  given  to  the  bearer,  Mr.  Julian  Kune 
to  remain  within  the  lines  of  the  operating  army. 

All  authorities  are  hereby  requested  to  place  no  ob- 
stacles in  his  way: 

In  behalf  of  the  Quartermasters  General. 

(Signed)          V.  Verdy, 

Lieutenant  Colonel  and  department  chief  of  the  staff. 
(Seal)       Headquarters  of  his  Majesty  the  King, 
Chief  of  the  General  Staff  of  the  whole  Army. 


156  REMINISCENCES 

After  'showing  me  the  captured  French  balloon, 
which  were  kept  in  one  of  the  outhouses,  the  Colonel 
dismissed  me  with  a  hearty:  "Auf  Wiedersehen,"  he 
retiring  to  his  office,  while  I  walked  about  the  large 
Park  which  extended  for  miles,  admiring  the  trees,  ex- 
otic plants  and  flowers.  It  was  certainly  the  finest 
private  park  I  had  ever  seen.  As  the  castle  was  then 
occupied  by  the  King  and  his  suite,  I  could  gain  no 
admittance  to  examine  it,  as  I  subsequently  did  the 
Chateau  St.  Cloud,  but  I  had  it  fully  described  to  me 
later  on  by  Dr.  Moritz  Bush,  Bismarck's  private  sec- 
retary, whom  I  met  socially  quite  frequently.  He  told 
me  one  or  two  stories  in  connection  with  their  tem- 
porary quarters  at  Ferrier,  one  of  which  was  as  fol- 
lows: 

"The  Major-domo  of  the  castle  at  first  refused  to 
furnish  the  King's  table  with  wine.  After  vain  peace- 
able efforts,  the  officers  of  the  staff  threatened  him 
with  the  "Stroh  Halter"  (Straw  Halter).  This  had  the 
desired  effect,  for  afterwards  the  wine  was  flowing  like 
water." 

Another  story  which  Dr.  Bush  told  me  was  that 
"King  William  strictly  prohibited  shooting  in  the  Fer- 
rier Park,  which  was  filled  with  pheasants.  One  day 
I  asked  the  Chancellor  why  he  did  not  sally  forth 
once  in  a  while  and  shoot  a  few  of  these  toothsome 
birds  for  the  table.  'Why  not,  indeed/  he  replied  with 
a  smile.  'True,  shooting  is  strictly  prohibited,  but 
what  can  they  do  to  me  if  I  turn  out  and  knock  over  a 
brace  or  two?  I  can't  be  taken  up,  for  there  is  no  one 
to  do  it.'  An  entry  in  my  dairy  on  September  28th 
says:  'Today  the  King  drove  out  to  visit  the  canton- 


BUYING   A   HOESE  157 

ments  before  Paris.  At  midday  I  had  a  communication 
to  make  to  the  Prime  Minister.  In  the  anteroom  they 
told  .me  that  he  was  not  in ;  he  and  Moltke  went  out 
shooting  pheasants,  which  they  did  adjoining  the  Park, 
so  as  not  to  trespass  His  Majesty's  commands'." 

BUYING   A    HORSE 

On  my  return  to  Lagni,  where  I  had  an  appoint- 
ment with  Capt.  Kuster  of  the  5th  Saxon  regiment,  I 
bought  of  him  a  horse,  for  which  I  paid  104  francs, 
about  $5.00.  The  horse  was  a  captured  French  artil- 
lery horse,  rather  too  heavy  for  fast  travel,  but  quite 
inured  to  the  sound  of  cannon,  mitrailleuse  and  small 
arm  fire,  which  was  quite  an  advantage.  While  I  was 
hunting  for  a  chaise  and  harness  this  23rd  of  Septem- 
ber, the  French  made  a  sortie  at  Bicetre,  a  hamlet  West 
of  Paris.  The  sortie,  however,  was  nipped  in  the  bud 
by  the  ever-watchful  German  army,  inflicting  on  the 
French  a  loss  of  12  guns  and  2,000  prisoners.  On  the 
24th  of  September,  Jules  Favre  appeared  under  a  flag 
of  truce. 

The  French  chauvinistic  press  at  once  jumped  to 
the  conclusion  that  Favre's  presence  at  Ferrier  au- 
gured peace.  I  was  equally  impressed  and  influenced 
by  that  generally  prevailing  spirit,  so  that  I  sent  a 
cable  to  the  Chicago  Tribune  on  September  24th  as 
follows:  "Prospects  for  peace  good;  Favre  here." 
Nothing  came,  however,  of  this  visit.  Bismarck,  it 
seems  (as  I  subsequently  heard  from  his  Secretary, 
Dr.  Bush),  had  but  little  faith  and  confidence  in  Favre's 
diplomatic  mission,  as  he  could  produce  no  authentic 
authority  from  the  provisional  government  to  treat 


158  EEMINISCENCES 

for  peace.  The  Chancellor,  in  fact,  sized  him  up  as  a 
fine  actor,  who  came  to  the  German  headquarters,  pre- 
pared as  he  was  with  powdered  face  and  perfumed 
garments,  to  make  an  impression  on  the  man  of  iron. 

Favre's  proposition  was  the  cession  of  Alsace-Lor- 
raine and  the  payment  of  the  war  expenses,  but  that 
the  German  army  should  not  enter  Paris.  The  last  was 
the  rock  on  which  the  negotiations  were  wrecked. 

Bismarck  was  ready  to  negotiate  for  peace,  in 
fact  I  remember  that  at  one  time,  as  General  Sheridan 
told  me,  he  authorized  General  Burnside  to  offer  them 
terms  of  an  armistice,  but  the  provisional  government 
was  still  defiant  and  would  not  accept  the  terms. 

THE  SIEGE   OF   PARIS 

After  these  failures  to  secure  an  armistice,  the  Ger- 
man, army  went  to  work  entrenching  themselves 
around  Paris  and  preparing  their  winter  quarters.  The 
most  peculiar  thing  about  the  siege  of  Paris  was  the 
almost  total  absence  of  tents.  The  surrounding  army 
occupied,  where  practicable,  the  many  hamlets,  villages 
and  castles  that  surround  Paris,  while  the  advance 
posts  and  pickets  made  their  quarters  by  gopher-like 
burrowing  into  the  ground. 

STARTING  FOR  VERSAILLES 

On  the  25th  of  September,  after  having  bought  a 
harness  and  a  second  hand  chaise,  I  started  for  Ver- 
sailles, where  I  understood  the  headquarters  of  the 
King's  army  would  be  removed  to  and  where  I  under- 
stood Generals  Sheridan  and  Jas.  W.  Forsythe  were 
already  domiciled.  The  route  I  took  was  outside  the 


STARTING   FOB   VERSAILLES  159 

besieging  line,  crossing  the  Marne  on  a  pontoon  bridge, 
where  it  was  said  the  King  gave  5  thalers  to  each  one 
of  the  privates  who  helped  carry  his  luggage  across. 
Passing  Chaussy,  I  reached  Champigni-sur-Marne,  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  spots  around  Paris.  While  at 
Champigni  we  were  suddenly  reminded  by  the  burst- 
ing of  shells  fired  at  us  from  Fort  Charenton,  that  we 
were  at  the  advanced  post  of  the  Crown  Prince  of 
Prussia,  and  that  the  place  was  entrenched  and  occu- 
pied by  the  first  battalion  of  the  7th  Wuertenberger 
regiment,  and  we  further  learned  that  we  were  only 
seven  miles  from  Paris.  The  only  inhabitant  of  the 
2,000  people  living  here  was  an  old  man,  a  son  of  a 
German,  and  his  wife.  Here  I  put  up  for  the  night  in 
a  large  villa  belonging  to  a  building  contractor,  who, 
however,  had  abandoned  it  and  hied  himself  to  Paris. 
The  villa  contained  20  rooms,  among  which  was  an 
elegantly  furnished  library  of  4,000  volumes.  The 
kitchen  was  filled  with  valuable  china.  The  Wuerten- 
bergers,  who  occupied  the  place,  discovered  the  most 
costly  furniture  concealed  under  the  floor  of  the  stables. 
The  grand  piano  was  still  in  the  salon,  where  we  had 
the  satisfaction  of  listening  to  nocturnes,  rhapsodies, 
etc.,  played  by  artists  who  wore  the  Wuerten-berger 
private  soldier's  uniform. 

But  all  this  splendor  was  aggravating,  for  I  could 
get  nothing  to  satisfy  my  hunger  except  dry  bread 
and  some  soup  made  of  Erbsenwurst  (pea  sausage). 

Making  my  couch  in  the  library,  I  retired  about 
midnight,  after  having  hurriedly  glanced  through  the 
many  valuable  and  interesting  books,  all  in  French, 
that  filled  the  mahogany  book-cases. 


160  BEMINISCENCES 

On  the  following  morning  I  walked  over  to  the 
castle,  where  the  assistant  surgeon  of  the  Wuerten- 
berg  regiment,  which  garrisoned  at  Champigni,  regaled 
me  with  some  good  coffee  for  breakfast.  All  kinds  of 
provisions,  such  as  meats,  potatoes,  butter  and  milk, 
were  absolutely  not  to  be  had  either  for  love  or  money. 
I  tried  to  buy  some  milk  from  a  French  milkman,  but 
the  only  answer  to  my  application  was :  "II  n'a  pas  de 
lait,  monsieur ;  les  Prussiens  ont  emportee  nos  vaches." 
(There  is  no  milk,  monsieur;  the  Prussians  have  car- 
ried off  our  cows.)  This  excuse,  however,  was  far 
from  the  truth,  for  all  grains  and  provisions,  as  soon  as 
it  became  patent  that  Paris  would  be  besieged,  were 
requisitioned  from  the  surrounding  country  by  the 
French  provisional  government  and  taken  to  Paris, 
while  the  residue,  which  could  not  be  carried  away, 
was  wantonly  destroyed.  As  the  German  commissariat 
had  not  been  fully  organized  yet,  on  account  of  lack  of 
transportation  facilities,  provisions,  with  the  exception 
of  large  quantities  of  Erbsenwurst,  could  not  be 
brought  at  this  time  from  the  fatherland.  Large 
foraging  parties,  consisting  at  times  of  whole  squad- 
rons of  cavalry,  were  sent  out  into  the  country,  at 
times  forty  miles  distant  from  Paris,  which  helped  to 
supply  the  besieging  army.  I  was  surprised  to  find  the 
common  French  people,  living  outside  of  the  large 
cities,  so  ignorant  and  superstitious.  It  is,  however, 
not  to  be  wondered  at,  for  during  the  15  years  prior  to 
the  downfall  of  the  Napoleonic  Empire,  all  efforts 
'were  made  not  to  advance  the  intellectual  condition 
of  the  common  people,  but  to  retard  it  as  much  as 
possible,  so  that  they  could  be  used  against  the  on- 


STARTING   FOE   VEESAILLES  161 

slaughts  of  the  communistic  proletariat  of  Paris,  who 
were  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  carry  out  their 
long  cherished  plans  for  vengeance  against  the  bour- 
geoise.  It  was  this  chauvinism  of  the  country  people 
that  saved  France  from  the  horrors  of  anarchy.  Even 
after  the  German  arms  had  overthrown  the  Napoleonic 
dynasty  at  Sedan,  and  Paris  was  being  besieged,  these 
unsophisticated  country  folks  believed  that  Napoleon 
permitted  the  Prussian's  advance,  only  to  entrap  them 
and  thus  entirely  annihilate  them.  You  may  tem- 
porarily subdue  such  people,  but  you  can  not  conquer 
them  permanently. 

In  order  to  evade  the  too  frequent  bursting  of 
shells  which  the  French  threw  into  Champigni  from 
Fort  Charenton,  I  left  the  place  and  went  South  along 
the  Marne  to  Chenevieres,  and  as  I  stood  on  its 
heights  that  morning  of  September  25th,  1870,  a  won- 
derful sight  presented  itself  before  my  astonished 
eyes.  There  was  Paris,  still  enchanting,  even  while 
in  the  throes  of  distress  and  starvation.  Only  a  little 
over  a  year  ago  I  walked  its  streets  and  boulevards 
and  admired  its  Pantheon,  Arc  de  Triomphe,  Notre 
Dame  and  the  Louvre,  with  all  its  treasures.  I  have  at- 
tended the  Fete  Napoleon  on  the  Champs  de  Mars, 
where  I  saw  100,000  soldiers  march  past  the  stand 
where  Napoleon  and  his  brilliantly  attired  staff  re- 
viewed them.  The  buildings  were  all  there,  but  the 
pall  of  death  seemed  now  to  hover  over  them  and  the 
9,000  public  houses  and  private  buildings  of  which  the 
Paris  of  that  day  was  made  up.  Its  2,000,000  people 
imprisoned  within  its  walls  were  prostrated,  partly  by 
fear  and  partly  by  hunger.  All  seemed  to  be  dead  ex- 


162  REMINISCENCES 

cept  the  trees  and  flowers  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne  and 
the  various  parks.  Through  my  telescope  I  could 
plainly  see  these,  Nature's  innocent  children. 

From  Chenevieres  I  had  to  drive  South  to  Boissy 
St.  Leger,  where  I  halted  to  feed  beast  and  man.  Our 
party  now  consisted  of  myself,  Mr.  Latham,  corre- 
spondent of  an  English  paper;  Dr.  Havelin,  an  ama- 
teur Johanniter,  and  my  stable  boy.  The  dinner  con- 
sisted of  some  meat  which  I  had  bought  of  a  soldier 
for  the  price  of  a  cigar.  This  time  I  showed  my  cul- 
inary art,  acquired  during  the  Hungarian  revolution  of 
1848,  by  preparing  an  excellent  dish  of  Gulyas. 

After  dinner  we  left  for  Vilneuf-sur-Seine,  in  the 
cantonment  (county)  of  Longjumeaux.  This  village 
is  beautifully  situated  about  four  leagues  from  Paris. 
We  had  crossed  the  Seine  on  a  pontoon  bridge  con- 
structed by  the  Germans.  We  reached  Versailles 
about  9  P.  M.,  on  the  26th  of  September,  without  en- 
countering any  more  obstacles.  General  von  Voigts 
Rhets  was  the  military  Governor,  since  the  German 
army  had  entered  Versailles,  although  the  French  Per- 
fect, as  well  as  the  Mayor,  who  stuck  to  their  posts, 
carried  out  all  civil  laws  and  ordinances  which  were 
not  inconsistent  with  the  martial  law  as  proclaimed 
by  the  invaders. 

ARRIVAL   AT  VERSAILLES 

It  took  me  a  couple  of  days  to  secure  quarters,  and 
while  walking  the  streets  in  quest  of  a  lodging  place, 
I  encountered  Generals  Sheridan  and  Forsythe,  who 
were  stopping  at  the  hotel  de  Reservoir.  The  Gen- 
eral kindly  invited  me  to  call  on  him  any  evening. 


THE   AEEE8T    OF   AN    EDITOR  163 

Versailles,  with  its  park  and  art  galleries,  its  play- 
ing waters,  and  its  Grand  and  Petit  Trianon,  was  a 
very  interesting  show  place  for  the  thousands  of  Ger- 
man officers  and  soldiers  who  visited  these  places  in 
large  numbers.  It  was  interesting  to  listen  to  the 
comments  of  private  soldiers  on  the  various  paintings 
in  the  art  gallery.  The  King  was  expected  to  arrive 
on  October  1st  ,and  the  Prefecture  was  being  put  in 
readiness  for  him.  As  he  had  700  persons  in  his  suite, 
Bismarck,  Moltke  and  numerous  members  of  the  gen- 
eral staff  had  to  find  quarters  elsewhere. 

The  Crown  Prince  took  up  his  quarters  at  the 
Villa  of  Madame  Andree.  It  was  on  a  high  ground 
just  outside  of  Versailles.  The  King  used  to  come  there 
frequently  to  take  observations  with  his  spy  glass. 

THE  ARREST  OF  AN    EDITOR 

Some  little  excitement  was  created  by  the  arrest  of 
M.  Jeandel,  editor  of  "Journal  de  Versailles,"  for  se- 
ditious articles  published  contrary  to  the  laws  and 
regulations  of  the  military  authorities.  One  of  these 
articles  referred  to  the  colored  paper  which  the  Jour- 
nal had  to  use  in  consequence  of  the  Prussian  invasion. 
To  satisfy  myself  whether  the  facts  would  bear  out 
these  assertions,  I  visited  the  office  of  the  paper, 
where  the  printing  was  done,  and  I  found  enough 
white  paper  still  in  the  store-room  to  last  at  least  six 
months.  The  editor  was  lucky  enough  to  escape 
with  a  sharp  reprimand. 

Sometimes  I  looked  upon  the  acts  of  the  French 
people,  from  head  down  to  the  lowest  grade,  as  child- 
ish and  silly.  So,  for  instance,  when  I  once  found  my- 


154  REMINISCENCES 

self  in  front  of  a  building  where  there  was  a  private 
gallery  of  paintings.  I  asked  the  concierge  to  let  me 
enter  and  examine  the  paintings.  He  replied :  "Nous 
ne  somme  plus  les  maitres  ici."  (We  are  no  longer 
masters  here.)  And  yet  he  had  full  charge  of  the  build- 
ing, with  all  its  art  treasures,  and  besides,  had  a  sen- 
tinel furnished  by  the  German  military  Governor  for 
his  and  the  building's  protection. 

Even  their  most  intellectual  leaders  were  at  times 
subject  to  these  childish  eccentricities.  As  an  ex- 
ample I  would  cite  Victor  Hugo's  letter  which  he 
wrote  King  Wilhelm  asking  him  to  spare  Metz,  to 
which  the  King  replied:  "Quant  a'  mois,  j'aime  beau- 
coup  vos  oraisons  comme  poesie,  mais  comme  guar- 
anti  de  paix  j'aime  mieux  Metz."  (A  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  I  love  much  your  beautiful  expressions  as 
poetry,  but  as  a  guarantee  of  peace  I  love  Metz  more.) 

After  having  settled  down  in  my  temporary  quar- 
ters, I  paid  a  visit  to  General  Sheridan  on  the  evening 
of  September  29th,  at  his  quarters  at  the  hotel  de 
Reservoir.  The  General  excited  my  interest  by  relat- 
ing to  me  his  and  General  Forsythe's  experience  dur- 
ing their  recent  visit  to  St.  Cloud,  the  favorite  castle 
of  the  Empress  Eugenie  and  Napoleon,  the  place 
where  he  signed  the  declaration  of  war  against  Prus- 
sia. When  I  hinted  at  my  desire  to  visit  the  castle 
myself,  both  Generals  tried  to  dissuade  me  from 
this  dangerous  undertaking,  as  they  called  it,  for  while 
the  German  soldiers  inhabited  the  interior  of  the 
castle,  the  surrounding  park  was  constantly  exposed 
to  the  Franctireur  (French  sharpshooters)  from  the 
opposite  shore  of  the  Seine. 


CASTLE  OF   VERSAILLES,   FACING  TOWARDS   PARIS. 


CASTLE   OF  ST.  CLOUD,  FACING  THE   PARK. 


MY   VISIT   TO   ST.   CLOUD  165 

MY  VISIT  TO  ST.   CLOUD 

The  road  from  Versailles  to  St.  Cloud  is  very  fine 
and  the  distance  about  5  miles. 

At  2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  29th  of  Sep- 
tember, I  rapidly  drove  over  the  Chaussee  that  con- 
nected Versailles  with  St.  Cloud,  accompanied  by  my 
friend  Mr.  Latham  and  the  French  stable  boy.  The 
castle  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Crown  Prince's 
army  since  the  abortive  sortie  at  Petit  Bicetre,  and 
they  kept  it  by  throwing  a  company  of  Wuerten- 
bergers  into  the  building,  who  could  be  relieved  dur- 
ing the  dark  hours  of  night. 

In  about  25  minutes  we  reached  Ville  D'Avry, 
which  is  on  the  border  of  a  small  lake.  Twenty-five 
minutes  more  driving  brought  us  to  the  Viaduct  of  the 
Paris  &  Versailles  Railroad,  called  "Le  chemin  de  fer 
de  la  rive  gauche."  Here  the  road  was  blockaded  by 
large  trees  being  piled  across  it  from  side  to  side.  We 
had  to  leave  our  chaise  with  the  stable  boy,  and  La- 
tham and  myself  were  led  by  a  sentinel  to  the  officer 
of  the  field  guard,  which  was  encamped  in  the  woods. 
After  having  examined  our  papers,  the  officer,  who 
was  a  lieutenant,  informed  us  that  he  had  strict  orders 
not  to  let  pass  in  or  out  any  civilian;  but  after  I  had 
informed  him  that  I  represented  an  American  news- 
paper, he)  relented  saying  "Nun,  ja;  die  Amerikaner 
sind  miser e  Freunde."  (Well,  yes  the  Americans  are 
our  friends).  After  having  passed  this  guardpost,  our 
progress  was  thrice  interrupted  by  still  more  advanced 
pickets,  and  each  time  the  magic  word  "Amerikaner" 
removed  the  barriers.  After  permitting  us  to  pass, 


166  BEMINISCENCES 

the  officer  commanding  the  most  advanced  post  simply 
asked  us  if  we  wished  to  share  the  fate  of  Major  Pem- 
berton,  of  the  London  Times,  who  was  shot  while  try- 
ing to  run  the  gauntlet. 

When  we  first  saw  the  soldiers  running  from  tree 
to  tree  and  from  statue  to  statue,  we  thought  they 
were  playing  the  game  of  "Hide-and-seek,"  but  on 
hearing  the  whistling  of  the  chassepot  bullets  and  the 
shrieking  of  the  shells  that  passed  over  our  heads, 
we  realized  that  the  apparent  game  was  a  serious  one, 
and  that  it  may  wind  up  quite  seriously.  Undaunted, 
however,  by  these  sinister  reflections,  we  played  the 
game,  and  after  we  had  run  the  gauntlet  from  tree  to 
tree  and  from  statue  to  statue,  which  game  lasted 
nearly  forty  minutes,  we  were  finally  admitted  by  the 
sentinel  guarding  the  main  entrance  to  the  castle, 
when  the  door  flew  open,  and  we  found  ourselves  in- 
side the  castle  of  St.  Cloud.  The  St.  Cloud  park  is 
very  large  though  not  as  large  as  the  park  at  Versail- 
les. During  the  time  of  the  Franco-Prussian  war  it 
was  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  castle,  filled  with 
fine  statuary,  prominent  among  which  was  "The  Lan- 
tern of  Demosthenes,"  a  copy  of  the  celebrated  Greek 
sculptor  Lysicrate,  a  pupil  and  rival  of  Lyssippe,  of 
the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great.  This  frequently  has 
been  erroneously  misnamed  "The  Lantern  of  Dioge- 
nes." 

Captain  Marsuch  of  the  4th  Regiment,  who  was  in 
command  of  the  detachment  occupying  the  castle, 
kindly  gave  us  in  charge  of  Lieutenant  von  Lavadsky, 
to  lead  us  through  the  building.  The  front  of  the  liv- 
ing portion  of  the  castle  was  154  feet,  ornamented  by 


MY   VISIT   TO   ST.   CLOUD  167 

various  has  reliefs  and  supported  by  Corinthian  pil- 
lars, its  height  must  have  been  about  70  feet.  There 
were  four  statues,  representing  Power,  Prudence, 
Wealth  and  War,  which  adorned  the  fagade.  All  the 
furniture,  paintings  and  objets  de  vertu  in  the  castle 
were  of  comparatively  recent  date,  for  during  the  revo- 
lution of  1848  everything  had  been  sold  for  debt.  Na- 
poleon, however,  refurnished  it  in  more  costly  style 
than  ever  before;  he  spent  six  million  francs  in  em- 
bellishing it.  It  was  in  this  castle  on  the  18th  of 
Brumaire  an  VIII  (9th  of  November  1799)  that  the 
council  of  the  ancients  had  decreed  that  the  council  of 
100  should  come  here  to  hold  its  sessions,  at  which 
Lucien  Buonaparte  was  to  preside.  It  was  here  that 
Napoleon  the  First  came  near  being  assassinated  by  a 
deputy  from  Corsica,  who  foresaw  Napoleon's  inten- 
tion of  establishing  a  despotic  government.  Here 
were  the  headquarters  of  the  alliees  during  May,  1814, 
while  they  occupied  Paris. 

We  were  first  led  into  the  large  blue  room  called 
"Le  Marchechal  Vaillant"  and  through  other  large 
rooms,  until  we  reached  the  gallery  of  paintings, 
where  there  were  several  fine  paintings  and  a  statuette 
of  Josephine.  We  next  entered  the  music  room,  on 
whose  walls  was  the  portrait  of  Philip  Egalite  and 
other  portraits  of  the  Orleans  family.  I  must  not  omit 
mentioning  the  grand  painting  representing  the  Ocean, 
over  the  entrance  from  the  grand  stairs,  where  Queen 
Victoria  was  received  by  Napoleon. 

We  next  went  to  the  top  of  the  tower,  in  which 
were  many  elegant  rooms  and  numerous  closets  filled 
with  feminine  gowns.  Nearly  all  the  rooms  had  beds, 


168  REMINISCENCES 

bed  clothing  and  clocks,  just  as  they  were  left  by  the 
occupants,  untouched. 

From  the  top  of  the  tower  the  view  was  grand; 
the  whole  of  Paris  was  visible,  with  the  Seine,  serpent- 
like,  winding  its  way  through  the  beleaguered  city. 
The  French  pickets  on  the  other  side  of  the  river 
were  in  full  view  from  any  part  of  the  tower,  and  al- 
though they  kept  up  an  almost  constant  firing  at  the 
castle,  the  Prussians  refrained  from  replying,  as  they 
had  strict  orders  not  to  discharge  their  Zuendnadel 
guns  except  at  a  distance  of  150  feet  from  the  enemy. 

While  we  were  coming  down  from  the  tower  we 
met  two  registeurs,  conducted  by  two  Wuertenberger 
Generals,  who  by  the  direction  of  the  King  were  to 
make  out  a  list  of  all  articles  contained  in  the  castle. 

The  first  apartment  to  be  entered  was  the  Em- 
peror's reception  room;  the  next  the  council  room, 
where  Napoleon  signed  the  declaration  of  war;  both 
the  chair  in  which  he  sat  and  the  pen  he  used  were 
registered.  The  next  room  visited  was  his  buffet, 
covered  with  fine  carvings  and  two  life  sized  dogs, 
above  which  hung  the  Emperor's  hunting  case.  The 
room  was  finished  in  yellow  oak  and  grained.  Next 
to  the  buffet  came  the  work-room,  then  the  toilet 
room,  bedroom  and  bath  room.  On  the  bed,  which 
had  a  carved  crown  at  its  head,  there  were  still  all  the 
bed  clothes  and  white  damask  curtains  enveloping  it. 
Next  to  this  room  was  the  Empress'  bed  room ;  next 
her  toilet  room  and  bath  room.  In  the  nursery  there 
still  stood,  although  out  of  use,  the  cradle  of  the  Prince 
Imperial.  In  the  Empress'  work  room  there  was  some 
lint  which  she  had  herself  prepared  for  the  wounded. 


UKDUCED    COPY    OF    MAI'    USED    BY  THE    AUTIIOU    AT    THE    SIEGE    OF 

PARIS. 


ON   A   FOEAGING    EXCTJESION  169 

Her  reception  room,  aside  from  a  case  containing  vari- 
ous holy  relics  sent  to  her  by  Pionono,  was  not  of  par- 
ticular interest.  The  tea  room  had  a  little  table  with 
three  seats  around  it.  The  Emperor's  library  was  next 
visited,  where  its  shelves  contained  15,000  volumes 
of  valuable  books.  We  left  the  Chateau  at  6  P.  M., 
when  it  was  too  dark  for  the  French  sharpshooters  to 
practice  their  marksmanship  on  us. 

When  on  the  following  day  I  reported  to  General 
Sheridan  my  venturesome  visit  to  St.  Cloud  he  was 
surprised  and  at  the  same  time  elated  that  an  Ameri- 
can correspondent  and  a  Civil  War  veteran  should 
have  accomplished  the  hazardous  feat.  I  probably 
was  the  last  civilian  who  visited  the  castle  before  its 
destruction  on  the  13th  of  October  by  the  French 
themselves;  the  shells  from  Fort  Valerian  set  it  on 
fire,  and  it  was  burnt  down  only  a  short  time  after 
my  visit,  with  all  its  priceless  treasures. 

ON  A  FORAGING   EXCURSION 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  second  day  of  October, 
having  as  companions  an  English  and  a  German  cor- 
respondent, I  left  Versailles  on  an  inspection  tour, 
which  we  always  called  a  foraging  excursion,  because 
we  always  had  to  forage  around  for  something  to  eat 
for  man  and  beast.  We  took  the  northeast  road,  lead- 
ing out  from  Versailles,  and  we  soon  reached  (by  a 
finely  macadamized  road)  the  town  of  Viroflay,  in  the 
department  of  the  Seine  and  Oise,  about  two  miles 
from  Versailles  and  about  seven  miles  from  Paris. 
The  country  is  very  hilly  and  picturesque.  From  here 
we  passed  into  the  great  woods  of  Meudon,  ascending 


170  EEM1NISCENCES 

a  hill,  which  took  us  almost  two  hours  in  accomplish- 
ing, when  all  at  once  we  found  ourselves  opposite  the 
camp  of  the  Fifth  Jaeger  battalion.  A  sergeant  major 
took  charge  of  us,  and  after  having  left  our  carriage 
where  we  alighted,  we  were  led  up  to  a  cottage  west 
of  a  place  called  Bellevue,  where  the  two  famous  res- 
taurants de  la  ferme  des  Bruyeres  are  situated,  and 
where  during  peace  times  the  Parisians  love  to  come 
during  the  hot  season  and  make  merry  by  eating  and 
dancing.  Nearby  were  the  abandoned  French  rifle 
pits.  From  the  terrace  of  the  cottage  we  could  plainly 
feast  our  eyes  on  Fort  Valerian,  the  bridge  across  the 
Seine,  and  Montmartre.  We  returned  to  our  carriage 
and  drove  due  north  for  Bellevue,  which  we  soon 
reached,  and  were  astounded  at  the  beautiful  view  and 
scenery  that  met  our  eyes.  The  whole  place  was  like 
a  garden  dotted  with  numerous  and  exquisitely  built 
villas.  We  were  then  about  six  miles  from  Paris.  It 
might  be  well  to  mention  here  the  various  positions 
the  besieging  army  around  Paris  occupied.  The  army 
of  the  Prussian  Crown  Prince  was  spread  over  the 
territory  from  Boisy  St.  Leger  as  far  as  St.  Germain, 
opposite  the  Fort  Valerian.  On  the  right  of  the  Crown 
Prince  the  army  of  the  Saxon  Crown  Prince  encircled 
the  territory  beginning  at  Boisy  St.  Leger  and  extend- 
ing all  around  to  Nogent  sur  Marne.  The  besieging 
army,  about  three  hundred  thousand  strong,  kept  the 
city  of  Paris  pretty  well  sealed  up. 

'MEUDON 

On  arriving  at  Meudon,  which  is  about  six  miles 
from  Versailles  and  six  miles   from  Paris,  we  soon 


MEUDON  171 

found  that  the  castle  of  Meudon,  the  residence  of 
Prince  Napoleon  (Plon  Plon)  had  been  badly  damaged 
by  the  French  gunboats  firing  on  it  from  the  Seine. 
The  heights  of  Meudon  were  the  most  available  points 
whence  an  attack  could  be  made  on  the  Forts  d'Issy, 
Montrouge  and  Nauvres.  On  the  approach  of  the  Ger- 
man army  to  Paris,  on  the  19th  of  September,  the 
French  entrenchments  in  process  of  construction  were 
precipitately  abandoned,  leaving  baskets  and  wheel- 
barrows scattered  all  over  the  field. 

I  was  driving  myself.  My  French  horse,  "Sedan," 
was  leisurely  winding  its  way  uphill,  when  we  were 
halted  by  the  German  pickets,  who  informed  us  that 
we  had  crossed  the  picket  line,  and  that  we  were  al- 
most within  the  entrenched  camp  of  the  besieging 
army  that  extended  into  Sevres,  the  place  where  the 
celebrated  china  is  manufactured.  We  however  found 
out  something  more  that  was  less  agreeable,  and  that 
was  that  Fort  d'Issy  and  Montrouge  were  indiscrim- 
inately throwing  their  shells  on  the  heights  of  Meudon 
and  incidentally  into  our  very  midst.  It  was  quite  for- 
tunate that  we  had  a  horse  that  was  well  inured  to  the 
din  of  battle,  for  without  any  warning  an  immense 
shell  passed  shrieking  and  howling  within  a  few  feet 
from  our  carriage,  breaking  off  branches  from  an  im- 
mense tree  nearby,  and  buried  itself  in  the  ground, 
without  bursting.  Our  bucephalus,  "Sedan,"  however, 
merely  pricked  up  his  ears  in  defiance,  and  without 
accelerating  his  gait.  We  were  more  in  a  hurry  than 
he  was  in  getting  out  of  this  unpleasant  situation,  for 
who  wants  to  get  killed  in  a  fight  in  which  he  has  no 
real  interest?  We  quickly  turned  to  the  right  and 


172  REMINISCENCES 

entered  a  hollow,  where  we  considered  ourselves  better 
sheltered  from  the  French  shells,  and  where  we  also 
found  the  object  of  our  search,  Dr.  Scoppern,  a  sur- 
geon and  the  guest  of  the  Fifth  Jaeger  Battalion. 
After  having  alighted  from  our  chaise,  we  were  stand- 
ing under  a  large  tree,  and  while  the  doctor  entertained 
us  with  stories  of  remarkable  escapes  he  had  during 
the  late  sortie,  in  which  the  Sixth  army  corps  vic- 
toriously resisted  the  French  assault  on  their  lines, 
the  French  shells  began  dropping  around  us  too  fre- 
quently and  my  German  correspondent  expressed  his 
desire  to  start  at  once  for  home,  as  it  threatened  rain, 
while  my  English  correspondent  friend  said  that  it 
would  be  "beastly"  unpleasant  to  get  killed  for  the 
paltry  few  pounds  which  he  received  as  a  war  corre- 
spondent. 

After  a  hearty  "auf  wiedersehn,"  which  we  ex- 
changed with  the  doctor  and  the  officers  of  the  post, 
we  turned  back  from  the  danger  line,  where  'I  had  the 
honor  of  standing  as  godfather  to  my  two  correspon- 
dent friends  at  their  baptism  by  fire. 

My  visit  to  Meudon  was  of  the  highest  interest. 
The  place  was  not  only  the  official  residence  of  Prince 
Napoleon  (Plon  Plon)  who,  during  the  beginning  of 
our  Civil  War  paid  a  visit  to  General  Fremont  at  St. 
Louis ;  but  it  was  also  the  great  place  of  amusement 
for  the  Parisians,  who  on  every  possible  occasion 
flocked  to  the  great  woods  of  Meudon  by  the  thou- 
sands to  seek  recreation  and  social  amusement.  It 
had  several  factories,  among  which  was  a  fine  glass 
factory.  It  was  here  that  the  witty  Rabelais  held  forth 
as  its  cure. 


FIEST    EXCUESION    TO   BOUGIVAL  173 

As  we  left  Bellevue  we  again  heard  the  whistle  of 
shells  over  our  heads.  We  were  then  near  the  so- 
called  American  tramway  that  runs  from  Versailles  to 
St.  Germain;  its  operation,  however,  had  been  dis- 
continued. .We  afterwards  learned  that  the  shells 
were  thrown  at  some  German  soldiers  who  ventured 
out  into  the  fields  to  dig  potatoes  for  their  meals.  The 
men,  however,  who  belonged  to  the  Fifth  Jaeger  Bat- 
talion, escaped  unhurt. 

I  came  near  omitting  to  mention  that  the  Chassepot 
rifle,  which  I  subsequently  presented  to  the  Chicago 
Historical  Society,  was  picked  up  near  the  rifle  pits 
of  the  Fifth  Jaeger  Battalion  at  Meudon. 

On  this  tour  we  also  saw  the  captured  balloon  that 
was  filled  with  interesting  correspondence.  It  also 
contained  thousands  of  little  posters  calling  upon  the 
German  soldiers  to  get  rid  of  their  kingy  as  they  (the 
French)  got  rid  of  Napoleon. 

FIRST  EXCURSION  TO  BOUGIVAL 

On  the  4th  of  October  at  9  a.  m.,  we — myself  and 
my  Englishman,  Mr.  Latham — started  through  the 
north  gate  of  Versailles  to  Bougival.  The  country  was 
undulating  all  the  way  to  La  Celle,  the  little  village 
once  before  referred  to.  This  little  village  was  quite 
an  important  place  during  the  time  of  Charlemagne. 
It  has  an  immense  chateau  built  by  Louis  Quatorze, 
which  was  subsequently  occupied  during  the  reign  of 
Louis  Quinze  by  the  celebrated  Madame  de  Pompa- 
dour. It  subsequently  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  French- 
man called  Vinde,  who  filled  its  extensive  surrounding 
fields  with  Merino  sheep. 


174  REMINISCENCES 

After  a  drive  of  about  three  hours  we  reached 
Bougival,  a  village  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine,  which 
here  is  quite  sluggish  and  not  more  than  about  twenty 
yards  in  width.  The  bridge  leading  across  to  Croissy 
had  been  destroyed.  We  found  here  stationed  the 
Fifth  Prussian  regiment.  Inasmuch  as  the  chaussee 
was  barricaded,  we  were  turned  back  towards  Louve- 
ciens,  where  the  celebrated  waterworks  are  situated 
which  supply  the  Versailles  fountains  and  the  city 
with  water.  This  aqueduct  is  about  two  thousand  feet 
long.  The  water  is  raised  from  the  Seine  to  a  height 
of  600  feet. 

We  also  visited  Malmaison,  the  famous  retreat  of 
the  Empress  Josephine.  No  wonder  that  whenever 
she  became  tired  of  the  mockeries  and  hollowness  of 
court  life  at  the  Tuilleries,  she  retired  to  this  quiet  and 
restful  place. 

MONTE   CHRISTO 

During  this  tour  we  also  visited  the  castle  of  Monte 
Christo,  which  was  erected  by  the  celebrated  author, 
Alexander  Dumas.  Later,  however,  it  became  the 
property  of  Victorien  Sardou,  another  French  author 
and  dramatist. 

The  arabesques  carved  on  the  walls  of  this  villa 
were  done  by  two  Arabs,  who  were  sent  there  by 
Abdul  Kader,  the  famous  Algerian  chief.  It  has  two 
facades,  one  towards  Paris  and  the  other  towards  the 
park.  Its  overtopping  minarets  gives  it  an  Oriental 
look.  The  guest  room  is  completely  covered  by  carv- 
ings and  flowers  cut  into  gypsum.  Cerberus,  the  dog 


MONTE    CHRISTO  175 

of  Hades,  cut  in  marble,  stood  at  the  entrance  to  the 
cellar.  The  letters  "A.  D."  and  the  inscription  of  "Aut 
Ceasar  aut  nihil"  were  seen  in  the  beautifully  stained 
window.  When  I  visited  the  place  the  only  inhabi- 
tants of  the  villa  were  two  sisters  of  charity,  who  took 
care  of  it. 

On  my  return  to  Versailles,  I  changed  my  quarters 
and  took  up  my  lodgings  with  Monsieur  Ducrocque,  a 
highly  educated  French  avocat,  whose  family  had  left 
for  the  south  of  France  on  the  approach  of  the  "Prus- 
siens."  It  was  through  Mons.  Ducrocque  that  I  was 
enabled  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the  haute  monde 
of  Versailles,  among  which  was  the  celebrated  Jouferoy 
family.  The  Marchioness  de  Jouferoy  was  a  widow 
with  two  daughters,  and  in  greatly  reduced  circum- 
stances. She  was,  like  her  husband  had  been,  an  ar- 
dent Orleanist.  I  also  met  at  Versailles  a  Dr.  Brew- 
ster,  an  American  dentist,  who  had  resided  there  for 
forty  years  and  who  preceded  Dr.  Evans  as  Napoleon's 
family  dentist.  He  was  a  strong  sympathizer  with  the 
French  cause.  His  family  had  gone  to  England  on 
the  approach  of  the  German  army.  While  the  Ger- 
mans were  entering  Versailles  he  displayed  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  over  his  residence,  but  this  did  not  pre- 
vent their  billetting  forty  men  on  his  spacious  resi- 
dence, nor  from  ordering  the  flag  to  be  hauled  down. 
He,  however,  refused  to  comply  with  this,  and  the 
German  commander  of  Versailles,  General  Von 
Voight  Rhetz,  did  not  deem  it  best  to  enforce  the 
order.  The  doctor,  however,  soon  passed  away,  and 
he  was  buried  with  Masonic  honors. 


176  KEMIN1SCENCES 

THE  'KING'S  ARRIVAL  AT  VERSAILLES 

The  King  arrived  at  last,  on  the  5th  of  October, 
from  Baron  Rothschild's  castle  at  Ferrieres.  It  was  in 
one  sense  a  gala  day,  as  the  officers  and  soldiers  of 
the  German  army  who  were  at  Versailles  greeted  him 
with  enthusiastic  "Hochs."  But  as  far  as  the  French 
residents  were  concerned,  they  stared  at  him  with 
indifferent  curiosity,  if  not  with  actual  sullenness.  The 
King's  carriage,  which  contained,  besides  the  King,  his 
personal  adjutant,  was  drawn  by  six  black  horses, 
with  outriders,  and  escorted  by  an  escadron  of  his 
favorite  Uhlanens.  The  relationship  existing  between 
these  Uhlans  and  the  King  was  more  like  that  existing 
between  a  father  and  his  children.  No  matter  how 
often  during  the  day  they  might  have  been  drawn  up 
in  front  of  the  Prefecture  palace,  where  the  King  took 
up  his  quarters,  for  the  purpose  of  escorting  him  on 
his  frequent  drives,  he  invariably  greeted  them  with : 
"Guten  tag,  Uhlanen,"  to  which  the  harmonious  reply 
came:  "Guten  tag,  eure  Majest'dt!"  (Good  morning, 
Uhlans;  Good  morning,  your  Majesty). 

Before  I  had  the  opportunity  of  observing  the  re- 
lationship that  existed  between  the  German  private 
soldier  and  his  superior  officers,  I  had  the  generally 
accepted  erroneous  idea  that  the  officers,  who  belong 
to  the  Junker  class,  were  extremely  arrogant  to  their 
inferiors.  I  have,  however,  found  that  while  the  strict- 
est discipline  is  preserved  while  in  the  line  of  duty, 
a  kindly  feeling  exists  between  officers  and  men.  I 
have  seen  officers  of  high  rank  fraternize  while  off 
duty  with  common  privates.  An  interesting  story  was 


THE    KING'S   ARRIVAL   AT   VERSAILLES          3.77 

told  me  while  at  Versailles  of  how  Bismarck  broke  off 
a  piece  of  bread  and  took  it  to  his  hungry  sentinel. 
The  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  was  especially  noted  for 
his  democratic  attitude  towards  his  inferiors.  I  often 
saw  him  during  battle  in  earnest  conversation  with 
privates.  A  story  too  good  to  be  lost  was  related 
about  Unser  Fritz  and  a  Bavarian  soldier  whom  he 
praised  for  his  extraordinary  bravery.  "Yes,  your 
Royal  Highness,"  said  the  Bavarian,  "if  we  had  had 
you  for  our  commander  in  1866  (referring  to  the  war 
in  which  Bavaria  sided  with  Austria)  we  would  have 
whipped  those  d — d  Prussians  to  pieces!" 

THE  KING'S  HEADQUARTERS  AT  VERSAILLES 

The  King's  arrival  at  Versailles  wrought  a  big 
change  in  the  occupancy  of  quarters  among  the  many 
German  princes  and  notables  that  were  present  in  that 
city.  Monsieur  Fritz  (the  Crown  Prince),  as  the 
French  preferred  to  call  him,  after  the  French  royal 
title  given  to  the  French  heir  to  the  throne,  had  to 
cede  his  quarters  at  the  Prefecture  to  his  august  father, 
while  Generals  Moltke,  Blumenthal  and  Bismarck  had 
to  find  quarters  elsewhere  for  themselves  and  their 
numerous  following. 

THE  CASTLE  AT  MEUDON  DESTROYED 

It  was  again  my  good  fortune  to  have  visited  Prince 
Napoleon's  castle  at  Meudon  before  it  was  destroyed 
by  the  shells  thrown  into  it  by  Fort  Valerian.  It 
looked  to  me  at  the  time  that  this  was  spitework,  done 
more  against  Napoleon  than  against  the  German  army. 
General  Trochue,  the  Governor  of  Paris  during  the 


178  BEMINISCENCES 

provisional  government  of  defense,  never  was  much 
of  a  favorite  with  Napoleon ;  on  the  contrary,  he  was 
a  well  known  Orleanist.  The  cannonading,  which  was 
fierce,  was  heard  in  Versailles,  and  lasted  about  three 
hours  early  in  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  October. 

THE  PLAYING  OF  THE  FOUNTAINS 

The  grand  playing  of  the  Versailles  fountains  gen- 
erally takes  place  on  the  first  day  of  October.  This 
year,  however,  it  had  been  postponed  several  days  so 
that  the  King,  with  his  grand  following,  should  be 
able  to  witness  the  interesting  sight. 

The  fountains  of  Versailles  have  been  famous  for 
their  grand  playing  all  over  the  world.  The  water 
furnished  to  the  park  and  its  numerous  fountains  and 
cascades  comes  from  the  celebrated  waterworks  at 
Marly  le  roi,  or  Louveciennes,  where  it  is  raised  into 
viaducts  600  feet  high  and  is  conveyed  by  gravity  to 
the  reservoirs  at  Versailles. 

The  spectacle  was  witnessed  by  the  King,  who  was 
walking  along  with  the  Prefect  of  the  department  at 
his  side.  He  was  closely  followed  by  Bismarck  in  a 
general's  uniform,  with  his  constantly  attending  detec- 
tive some  ten  feet  behind  him.  Then  Moltke,  the  brain 
of  this  most  successful  campaign,  was  skipping  along, 
unattended,  like  a  school  boy  just  out  for  a  frolic. 
Whenever  I  saw  Moltke  he  always  reminded  me  of 
our  late  Senator  Trumbull,  both  as  to  stature  and 
physiognomy.  I  mainly  attribute  the  defeat  of  the 
French  at  Sedan,  and  in  fact  at  all  the  battles  fought, 
to  the  genius  of  that  great  strategist  and  tactician 
Moltke,  who,  while  sitting  in  his  office,  directed  the 


MEETING   WITH    HANS   BLUM  179 

various  armies  from  the  headquarters  of  the  general 
staff.  Of  course  Unser  Fritz,  with  General  Blumen- 
thal,  was  there,  the  latter  all  in  smiles  like  a  school 
girl  who  has  just  passed  a  successful  examination  in 
school.  To  sum  it  up,  nearly  all  the  generals  that  had 
anything  to  do  with  the  siege  of  Paris,  and  all  the 
princes,  dukes  and  admirals  of  the  navy,  who  did  not 
have  the  slightest  connection  with  the  siege,  were  in 
the  park  that  afternoon,  and  made  up  one  of  the  most 
gorgeous  displays  of  notables  I  had  ever  witnessed. 

MY   MEETING  WITH    HANS  BLUM 

One  day,  as  I  took  a  walk  in  the  park,  my  attention 
was  drawn  to  a  young  man  wearing  a  white  fedora 
hat.  I  took  him  to  be  a  Frenchman,  but  on  speaking 
to  him  I  found  that  he  was  the  correspondent  of  a  Ger- 
man illustrated  periodical,  the  "Daheim,"  and  the  son 
of  the  martyr  Robert  Blum,  who  was  court  martialed 
and  shot  by  Prince  Windisgraetz  after  the  capitulation 
of  Vienna  in  1848.  We  became  well  acquainted,  and 
made  many  excursions  together  around  Paris.  It  was 
through  Mr.  Blum  that  I  became  acquainted  with 
Doctor  Moritz  Bush,  private  secretary  to  Prince  Bis- 
marck ;  also  with  Moltke,  who  was  a  fellow  member  of 
the  Reichsrath  to  which  Mr.  Blum  also  belonged. 

A  day  or  two  after  the  above  related  water  display 
I  met  General  Burnside,  accompanied  by  General 
Sheridan,  on  the  streets  of  Versailles.  General  Burn- 
side  had  just  returned  from  Paris.  He  came  as  a  quasi 
semi-official  ambassador  to  pave  the  way  for  an  armis- 
tice and  peace.  Bismarck,  however,  like  the  shrewd 
diplomat  he  was,  read  the  letter  which  the  general  had 


180  REMINISCENCES 

brought  from  Jules  Favre,  with  a  few  blandishing 
phrases  addressed  to  Burnside,  would  not  commit  him- 
self  either  in  favor  or  against  an  armistice  and  final 
peace,  after  his  previous  failure  to  reach  an  under- 
standing with  Favre  himself  at  Ferrieres.  Bismarck  as 
well  as  the  rest  of  the  Germans  before  Paris,  talked 
about  their  being  in  Paris  within  the  next  two  weeks, 
as  they  were  momentarily  expecting  the  arrival  of 
seven  hundred  siege  guns  with  which  to  attack  the 
city.  General  Burnside,  however,  expressed  a  contrary 
opinion,  and  said  that  Paris  would  not  be  taken  within 
two  months  by  assault  and  that  the  city  was  well 
provisioned  for  at  least  two  months. 

PEACE  CONDITIONS  DISCUSSED 

As  early  as  the  7th  of  October  was  the  plan  on 
which  the  Germans  would  consent  to  peace,  unfolded 
to  me  by  my  friend  Blum,  who  had  it  from  Dr.  Bush, 
Bismarck's  secretary.  The  first  sine  qua  non  condition 
would  be  the  ceding  of  Elsass  and  Lothringen  (Alsace- 
Lorraine)  leaving  out  Nancy,  but  including  Metz. 
The  territory  thus  acquired  to  be  governed  by  a  gov- 
ernor appointed  by  the  German  Bundesrath  until  such 
a  time  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  territory  should 
be  loyal  enough  to  be  admitted  as  members  of  the 
Deutsche  Bund.  The  next  condition  was  that  France 
was  to  pay  a  war  indemnity  of  at  least  three  millard 
of  francs. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  subsequent  events  proved 
nearly  all  the  above  conditions  to  have  been  faithfully 
and  successfully  carried  out,  for  today  Alsace  and  Lo- 


BOMBAEDMENT    OF  BOUGIVAL  181 

raine  are  a  part  of  the  German  Empire  and  sends  its 
representatives  to  the  Bundesrath. 

BOMBARDMENT  OF  BOUGIVAL 

Hearing  a  heavy  cannonading  in  the  direction  of 
Bougival,  Hans  Blum  and  myself  started  out  for  that 
place  in  the  morning  of  the  llth  of  October.  We  saw 
the  Thirty-seventh  regiment  and  several  other  detach- 
ments advancing  in  double  quick  time  to  the  front. 
Passing  through  Marly  and  Louveciens  we  soon 
reached  Bougival,  where  the  shells  dropped  all  around 
us  thick  and  fast.  We  were  in  front  of  a  building 
where  the  military  band  of  the  Forty-seventh  regiment 
was  quartered,  who  were  just  partaking  of  their  noon- 
day meal,  when  a  shell  struck  the  building,  tearing  an 
immense  piece  out  of  it,  wounding  six  and  killing  two 
of  the  musicians,  and  not  satisfied  with  this  mischief 
the  shell  ricocheted  and  went  through  the  next  build- 
ing and  buried  itself  within  it  several  feet  deep  before 
it  exploded.  Inasmuch  as  both  myself  and  Mr.  Blum 
were  noncombatants  we  thought  it  best  for  our  health 
and  happiness  to  leave  this  dangerous  place  in  a  hurry 
and  hie  ourselves  below  a  hill  which  partly  protected 
us  from  the  Fort  Valerian  shells  that  were  thrown  so 
assiduously  into  Bougival. 

We  espied  a  pretty  villa  on  the  crest  of  the  hill, 
and  leaving  our  chaise  we  ascended  the  hill  and  entered 
the  villa,  which  proved  to  be  the  home  of  the  cele- 
brated painter,  Gerome.  We  found  the  house  in  a 
most  distracting  confusion.  Furniture,  valuable  paint- 
ings and  dining  room  and  kitchen  furniture  were  pell- 
mell  scattered  all  over  the  house.  The  atelier  contained 


182  REMINISCENCES 

many  valuable  albums  of  sketchings,  and  there  was 
an  unfinished  painting  of  Gerome's  famous  picture, 
"The  Slave  Market."  We  gathered  all  of  the  most 
valuable  paintings,  including  the  unfinished  painting, 
which  we  cut  out  of  its  frame  on  the  easel,  and  loaded 
them  into  our  chaise,  driving  back  to  Versailles,  which 
we  reached  after  dark.  We  drove  to  the  Mairie  and 
delivered  there  the  rescued  paintings,  which  would 
have  been  destroyed,  for  Gerome's  house  was  among 
those  which  suffered  most  from  the  shells  thrown 
from  Fort  Valerian  into  Bougival  during  that  after- 
noon. 

MEETING  COUNT  VON  BISMARCK 

It  was  my  habit  to  visit  General  Sheridan  almost 
every  evening  to  talk  over  matters  and  incidents  of 
the  day,  and  to  exchange  newspapers  from  home.  So, 
on  the  evening  of  the  12th  of  October,  while  I  was 
making  my  usual  call,  someone  in  the  employ  of  the 
Hotel  de  Reservoir,  where  the  general  stopped,  burst 
into  the  room  where  we  sat  and  announced  that  "Bis- 
marck is  going  to  be  here  to  call  on  General  Sheridan 
in  a  few  minutes."  I  at  once  arose  to  leave,  not  wish- 
ing to  intrude  myself  at  a  meeting  of  two  such  great 
personalities,  but  the  general  at  once  stopped  me  and 
said:  "O,  no,  major;  you  just  stay  where  you  are, 
and  I  will  introduce  you  to  Bismarck."  Of  course, 
General  Sheridan  being  my  superior  officer,  I  obeyed, 
and  resumed  my  seat.  In  a  few  minutes  more  the 
door  opened  and  in  came  the  Man  of  Iron.  "General," 
he  said,  "I  must  apologize  for  not  having  called  on 
you  ere  this,  but  you  know  that  I  have  so  many  princes 


AN   UNSUCCESSFUL  SORTIE  183 

to  take  care  of  that  my  time  is  pretty  well  occupied." 
He  spoke  in  as  good  English  as  a  born  Englishman. 
The  general  at  once  introduced  me  as  an  ex-Union 
major  and  a  correspondent  of  the  Chicago  "Tribune." 
After  exchanging  a  few  words  of  courtesy  I  at  once 
withdrew. 

Generals  Sheridan  and  Forsythe,  becoming  tired  of 
waiting  for  the  surrender  of  Paris,  and  evidently  ad- 
vised by  Bismarck  during  his  last  visit  as  above 
described,  left  Versailles  on  the  14th  of  October  with 
the  intention  of  traveling  all  over  Europe  and  return- 
ing to  Paris  after  its  capitulation. 

AN    UNSUCCESSFUL   SORTIE 

While  there  was  hardly  a  day  when  the  French  did 
not  make  attempts  to  break  through  the  lines,  the 
attempt  they  made  on  the  21st  of  October  was  fierce 
enough  and  made  with  such  a  large  array  of  troops  as 
to  merit  the  appellation  of  a  pitched  battle. 

Towards  noon  of  the  21st  the  cannonading,  which 
was  kept  up  more  or  less  by  the  French  forts  night  and 
day,  became  more  pronounced  and  regular.  I  surmised 
that  something  was  going  on  in  the  front  of  Mount 
Valerian,  which  the  German  soldiers  had  nicknamed 
"Baldrian,"  the  name  of  a  plant  from  which  strong 
medicinal  oil  is  extracted. 

We — Hans  Blum  and  myself — got  into  our  carriage 
and  drove  towards  Malmaison,  but  we  had  not  cov- 
ered more  than  half  way  there  when  our  chaise  broke 
down  and  we  were  compelled  to  abandon  it  in  charge 
of  my  stable  boy  and  to  proceed  on  foot. 

We  soon  saw  the  King's  carriage  passing  us  and 


184  BEMINISCENCES 

going  in  the  direction  of  the  aqueduct  at  Louveciens, 
whence  he  could  overlook  the  whole  battlefield.  After 
a  lapse  of  half  an  hour  we  saw  the  King  and  his  retinue 
again  changing  position  and  going  about  half  a  mile 
to  the  rear.  Soon  afterwards  the  Crown  Prince,  with 
his  numerous  staff  officers,  followed  the  King,  who 
never  left  his  carriage,  while  all  others  except  myself 
and  Blum  were  on  horseback.  We  were  wondering 
what  occasioned  this  change  of  front  to  the  rear,  when 
my  friend  Blum  espied  General  Moltke  coming  along 
on  horseback.  He  went  up  to  him  and  with  anxious 
face  asked  him  how  matters  stood  in  front,  to  which 
the  great  strategist  replied,  nonchalantly:  "Alles  its 
wieder  in  Ordnung"  (All  is  again  in  order).  Hearing 
this,  from  the  source  from  which  it  came,  reassured  my 
friend  Blum,  we  took  our  position  right  in  front  of 
the  Crown  Prince,  who  unconcernedly  was  puffing 
away  and  enjoying  his  well  colored  porcelain  pipe.  All 
at  once  the  whistling  of  balls  from  the  French  skir- 
mishers could  be  heard,  and  a  sudden  order  to  scatter 
and  not  to  stand  so  close  together  was  given  by  the 
Crown  Prince  to  his  officers,  which  order  was  quickly 
carried  out.  The  position  of  the  notable  crowd,  com- 
posed of  the  King  and  a  score  of  princes,  was  again 
changed  to  a  safer  place. 

The  troops  engaged  in  this  affair  were  the  Sixth, 
Forty-sixth  and  Fiftieth  regiments  of  infantry,  sup- 
ported by  the  Fifth  corps  of  the  Province  of  Posen 
and  lower  Silesia.  The  French  attacking  troops  con- 
sisted of  twenty-two  battalions,  fifty  cannon,  six 
mitrailleuse,  and  the  heavy  guns  from  Fort  Valerian, 


AN   UNSUCCESSFUL   SORTIE  185 

which  rose  415  feet  above  the  Seine  and  whose  shells 
could  be  thrown  7,000  yards. 

At  Malmaison  the  French  advanced  steadily  until 
they  had  reached  the  walls  of  the  Chateau  de  Pompa- 
dour, where  they  were  met  by  the  death-dealing  fire 
of  the  Sixth  regiment  of  the  German  army  who  were 
concealed  behind  the  walls. 

The  French  attack  must  have  been  very  unexpected 
and  fierce,  for  very  soon  the  wounded  began  to  come 
to  the  rear,  one  of  whom  told  Mr.  Blum  that  his  regi- 
ment was  badly  cut  up.  The  French,  however,  as  is 
their  usual  custom,  soon  lost  their  spirit,  or  elan,  and 
after  a  struggle  of  about  two  hours  were  repulsed  and 
compelled  to  retire  to  the  ground  protected  by  the 
guns  of  Fort  Valerian.  They  left  behind  them  many 
cannon  and  mitrailleuse,  and  lost  a  hundred  or  more 
in  prisoners. 

During  this  engagement  I  witnessed  one  of  the  odd- 
est sights  in  all  my  life.  While  the  battle  was  going 
on,  a  woman  was  herding  a  lot  of  sheep  on  a  field  that 
lay  between  the  combatants,  and  while  the  sheep  were 
browsing  their  shepherdess  occupied  herself  with  gath- 
ering champignons  (mushrooms). 

After  the  abortive  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  French 
to  break  through  the  German  lines,  which  anaconda- 
like  became  from  day  to  day  tighter  and  tighter,  there 
was  some  rest  for  the  besieging  troops,  though  they 
never  relaxed  their  unabated  vigilance.  Of  course  the 
cannonading  from  the  forts  was  kept  up,  but  as  no 
damage  resulted  from  it  the  natural  conclusion  was 
that  this  continuous  waste  of  powder  and  shell  was 
kept  up  merely  to  amuse  the  French  who  were  shut 


186  REMINISCENCES 

up  in  the  city,  and  who  were  continually  told  of  the 
wonderful  victories  of  the  French  armies.  I  became 
so  used  to  the  cannonading  noises  that  came  from  Fort 
Valerian  and  Issy  that  whenever  they  ceased  during 
the  midnight  hour  for  a  short  rest  I  invariably  awoke 
from  my  sound  sleep. 

AN   EVENING   WITH  DOCTOR  BUSCH 

Whenever  Mr.  Blum  and  I  had  any  spare  time  from 
going  on  our  foraging  expeditions  and  from  letter 
writing,  we  always  spent  an  hour  or  so  with  Dr.  Busch, 
who  willingly  supplied  us  with  all  the  news  and  all 
that  was  in  project  of  being  accomplished  for  the  uni- 
fication of  the  various  German  states.  He  also  enter- 
tained us  with  various  interesting  anecdotes,  most  of 
them  referring  to  his  master,  the  Chancellor. 

Some  of  the  anecdotes  and  bon  mots  I  noted  down 
for  my  letters  to  the  Chicago  "Tribune"  at  the  time, 
but  as  all  those  letters  were  stolen  from  me,  I  have 
selected  some  of  those  anecdotes  from  Dr.  Bush's 
"Our  Chancellor,"  which  I  will  give  in  the  doctor's 
own  words. 

"Bismarck  on  one  occasion  said:  'While  I  was 
attending  the  Paris  Exposition  in  1866,  I  thought  to 
myself,  how  would  it  have  been  if  we  had  fought  out 
the  Luxemburg  quarrel?  Should  I  be  in  Paris,  or  the 
French  in  Berlin?  We  were  not  as  strong  then  as  we 
are  now;  the  Hanoverians  and  Hessians  of  that  day 
could  not  have  supplied  us  with  so  many  good  soldiers 
as  today.  As  for  the  Schleswig-Holsteiners,  who  lately 
have  been  fighting  like  lions,  they  then  had  no  army  at 
all.  The  Saxon  army  was  broken  up,  and  had  to  be 


THEIRS    AT   VEESATLLES  187 

fully  reorganized.  What  splendid  fellows  the  Wuerten- 
bergers  are  now ;  how  magnificent.  But  in  1866  no  sol- 
dier could  help  laughing  at  them,  as  they  marched  into 
Frankfort  like  a  civil  guard.'  " 

This  cited  anecdote  shows  how  clear  and  farseeing 
Bismarck  was  in  his  statesmanship.  His  life's  task 
had  been  for  many  years  the  unification  of  the  German 
principalities  into  one  unified  German  Empire,  and  he 
worked  steadfastly  with  that  end  in  view,  weighing 
every  move  before  he  made  it  and  biding  his  time 
when  to  strike  the  final  blow. 

THIERS   IN    VERSAILLES 

After  Thiers  arrival  in  Versailles,  direct  from 
Tours,  the  seat  of  the  French  government,  I  had  fre- 
quently the  chance  of  seeing  him.  He  was  a  short, 
stout  man  with  a  large  and  well  developed  gray  head ; 
he  must  have  been  around  seventy-three  years  old.  He 
was  scrupulously  well  dressed,  wore  a  stiff  white 
cravat  and  had  his  black  frock  coat  tightly  buttoned 
up.  His  eyes  were  sparkling  and  his  complexion  florid. 
He  looked  to  me  more  like  a  minister  of  the  gospel 
than  a  diplomat.  Bismarck's  opinion  of  Thiers  as  a 
diplomat  was  not  very  flattering;  he  said  of  him  as 
reported  by  Dr.  Bush:  "There  is  scarcely  a  trace  of 
the  diplomat  about  him ;  he  is  far  too  sentimental  for 
that  trade.  He  is  not  fit  to  be  a  negotiator ;  he  allows 
himself  to  be  bluffed  too  easily ;  he  betrays  his  feelings 
and  allows  himself  to  be  pumped."  This  was  a  pretty 
severe  criticism  of  the  man  who,  August  31,  1872,  was 
almost  unanimously  voted  by  the  French  Chamber  of 
Deputies  to  retain  the  presidency  of  the  republic  under 
the  new  constitution. 


PART  VIII. 

FALSE   RUMORS    THICK   AND   FAST 

Following  the  excitement  occasioned  by  the  sur- 
render of  Metz,  October  27th,  there  was  a  comparative 
lull  in  Versailles.  Rumors,  however,  most  of  them 
false,  circulated  faster  than  ever.  One  of  these  canards 
was  that  a  counter  revolution  had  broken  out  at  Paris ; 
that  the  red  republicans,  under  their  leaders  Blanqui, 
Pyatt  and  Flourens,  had  General  Trochue,  the  mili- 
tary governor  of  Paris,  and  Jules  Favre,  arrested ;  also 
that  Bazain  and  McMahon  had  been  exiled  as  traitors. 
All  of  these  rumors  were  evidently  invented  by  the 
French  to  counteract  the  dejection  caused  by  the  Metz 
surrender,  which  was,  after  Sedan,  the  most  momen- 
tous of  modern  warfare.  Three  marshals  —  Bazain, 
Canrobert  and  Le  Boeuff —  with  173,000  men  and  a 
vast  amount  of  war  material,  fell  in  the  hands  of  the 
German  investing  army  under  Prince  Friedrich  Carl. 

POMERANIANS  AND  THEIR  GENERAL 

The  second  corps  of  Prince  Friedrich  Carl's  army 
consisting  of  the  Pomeranian  garde  landwehr,  was 
ordered  to  join  the  army  of  the  Crown  Prince  of 
Prussia  before  Paris.  The  occasion  of  their  arrival 
was  made  a  gala  day.  The  King  and  all  the  ruling 
princes,  including  Leopold,  the  indirect  cause  of  the 
war,  were  participating  in  the  reception.  The  com- 
mander-in-chief,  the  Crown  Prince,  received  them  with 
the  following  proclamation: 

188 


FRICTION   AT   VERSAILLES  189 

"Soldiers  of  the  Second  Army  Corps :  This  is  the 
first  time  I  see  you  in  the  field,  under  my  command, 
although  during  many  years  past — during  peace — I 
was  your  general  commanding.  I  heartily  welcome 
you.  Your  heroic  deeds  at  Gravelot,  as  well  as  your 
great  achievements  at  Metz,  fill  my  heart  with  pride ; 
I  confidently  expect  that  both  by  our  love  for  the 
Fatherland  and  our  conduct  before  the  enemy,  we 
may  continue  to  deserve  the  praise  and  approval  of 
our  most  gracious  King.  Versailles,  Nov.  12th,  1870. 
General  Field  Marshal  and  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  Third  Army." 

I  should  have  mentioned  that  the  King  in  recogni- 
tion of  their  distinguished  services  in  the  field,  had 
created  both  his  son  and  the  Red  Prince,  Friedrich 
Carl,  general  field  marshals  of  the  realm,  and  upon 
Moltke  he  bestowed  the  hereditary  title  of  Count. 

FRICTION  AT   VERSAILLES 

During  the  first  half  of  November,  as  the  weather 
changed  for  the  worse,  German  stoicism  began  to 
waver  some.  The  besieging  troops,  whose  winter 
quarters  consisted  mostly  of  dugouts,  which  on 
account  of  incessant  rains  were  at  best  but  poor  shelter 
against  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  for  the  first 
time  expressed  their  impatience  at  the  delay  of  the 
long  expected  assault  on  Paris.  The  murmurings  of 
the  soldiers  were  heard  at  headquarters,  where  there 
was  also  a  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  how  to  reduce 
the  besieged  city — whether  by  assault  or  starvation. 
The  Crown  Prince  and  Bismarck  were  for  starving 


190  REMINISCENCES 

them  out,  while  the  King  and  Moltke  were  for  taking 
the  city  by  bombardment  and  assault. 

It  looked  one  time  as  if  the  King's  and  Moltke's 
plan  would  prevail,  as  the  heavy  Krupp  siege  guns 
began  to  arrive,  but  for  one  cause  or  another  they 
were  not  placed  in  position,  nor  were  there  any  signs 
of  the  corresponding  ammunition  to  these  guns.  Mean- 
while, as  I  learned  from  Dr.  Busch,  negotiations  for 
an  armistice  and  peace  were  kept  up  by  the  Provisional 
French  government  at  Tours,  and  Bismarck,  through 
Thiers.  At  the  head  of  the  Tours  government  were 
Cremieu  Glais-Bizoin,  and  Gambetta,  who  were  not 
always  in  harmony  with  the  powers  at  Paris;  hence 
the  negotiations  dragged.  The  worst  hitch  came  when 
while  Thiers  and  Bismarck  were  intently  engaged  in 
negotiations,  Ducrot  and  the  Paris  garrison  made  sev- 
eral sudden  sorties;  he  was  led  to  believe  by 
false  rumors  that  the  army  of  the  Loire  under  General 
d'Aurelle  de  Palladin  was  nearing  Paris  to  its  relief. 
It  was,  of  course,  a  piece  of  downright  treachery,  which 
cost  the  French  pretty  dearly.  Ducrot  took  the  Ger- 
mans by  surprise  and  drove  the  Wuertenbergers  be- 
yond Champigni,  the  place  whence  I  sent  my  first 
letter  to  the  "Tribune"  about  two  months  before.  The 
second  army  corps,  however,  ran  to  the  assistance  of 
the  Wuertenbergers  and  quickly  drove  the  French 
back  behind  the  protecting  guns  of  their  surrounding 
forts.  The  Germans  were  now  aroused  to  carry  on 
hostilities  "a  Toutrance,"  and  the  siege  guns  were  now 
being  placed  in  position.  Meanwhile  the  administra- 
tion of  the  various  surrounding  towns,  including  Ver- 
sailles, became  more  rigorous.  AGerman,  the  son-in- 


FRICTION   AT    VERSAILLES  191 

law  of  Von  Roon,  minister  of  war,  was  made  prefect 
of  the  Department  of  the  Seine  and  Oise.  Back  taxes 
were  collected  wherever  possible,  and  requisitions  were 
made  for  almost  everything — and  enforced.  For  in- 
stance, on  one  occasion  the  maire  of  a  small  bourg  was 
required  to  open  the  private  cellars  of  the  town  and 
take  out  and  furnish  the  wine  required.  The  maire, 
however,  refused  to  do  this,  saying:  "I  shall  not  lend 
my  cloak  of  office  to  cover  up  this  legalized  robbery." 
On  another  occasion,  a  requisition  was  made  on  the 
mdire  of  Versailles  to  furnish  several  thousand  candle- 
sticks, but  as  not  one  hundredth  part  of  the  number 
required  could  be  obtained  in  the  whole  department, 
the  maire  hit  upon  a  clever  scheme,  by  having  his 
carpenters  saw  up  boards  into  thousands  of  little 
square  pieces,  with  rough  holes  bored  into  their  center, 
and  when  all  ready,  presented  them  to  the  quarter- 
master general  with  the  remark:  "Id  sont  les  chande- 
liers' (Here  are  the  candlesticks).  If  the  siege  had 
lasted  another  six  months,  Versailles  would  have  be- 
come so  thoroughly  Germanized  that  the  shades  of 
Louis  Quatorze  and  Napoleon  Bonaparte  would  have 
risen  in  their  graves.  Wherever  one  turned  his  eyes 
would  meet  signs  like  these :  "Bundeskanzlei,"  "Kriegs- 
ministerium,"  and  "Polizeichef" 

The  reinforcements  received  by  the  Crown  Prince 
of  Prussia  from  the  victorious  army  from  Metz  por- 
tended an  early  bombardment  of  the  doomed  city.  The 
heavy  siege  guns,  which  after  untold  difficulties  were 
massed  together  at  Villa  Coublay,  about  twelve  miles 
southeast  from  Paris,  were  being  made  ready.  There 
never  was  seen  before  such  a  formidable  array  of 


192  REMINISCENCES 

death-dealing  instruments  at  one  place.  There  were 
398  pieces  of  various  calibre  guns  and  mortars  in  that 
park.  Its  aggregate  capacity  was  400,000  shots,  the 
weights  of  which  ranged  from  six  pounds  breech  load- 
ers to  fifty-pound  mortars.  Some  of  them  were  brought 
from  Strassburg  and  other  forts  that  had  surrendered. 

On  beholding  these  instruments  of  death,  I  for  the 
first  time  realized  that  the  starvation  process  of  taking 
Paris  would  soon  be  replaced  by  the  sterner  method 
of  reducing  it  by  means  of  shot  and  shell. 

I  had  many  friends  among  the  French  residents  of 
Versailles.  Being  a  non-combatant  and  an  American, 
they  came  to  me  with  all  their  troubles,  imaginary  and 
real.  Among  other  things  they  asked  me  if  I  really 
believed  that  the  Prussians  (they  never  used  the  word 
"Germans")  were  in  earnest  of  bombarding  Paris,  and 
thus  adding  to  the  brutality  of  starving  out  women 
and  children,  the  atrocity  of  shooting  them  down  in 
cold  blood.  "Then  why  don't  you  surrender  the  city?" 
was  my  next  question  to  them. 

"Ah,  mais  1'honneur,  monsieur!"  was  invariably 
their  answer.  Here  again  the  overstraining  of  a  false 
conception  of  what  constituted  honor  became  akin  to 
idiocy.  I  was  reminded  of  the  colored  brother  who 
was  mocked  for  running  away  in  battle,  when  he  re- 
plied: "What  is  honor  and  what  is  glory  to  this 
nigger  when  him  is  dead  and  gone?" 

WINTER    AND   SNOW 

The  snow  flurries  during  the  first  week  in  Decem- 
ber indicated  an  early  winter.  The  regimental  bands 
kept  up  their  daily  afternoon  concerts  in  the  Place  des 


MY   LAST    TOUR   AROUND    PARIS  193 

Armes.  This  helped  to  a  large  extent  to  drive  away 
the  ennui  of  the  garrison.  Everything  pointed  to  an 
early  closing  of  the  campaign  before  Paris,  and  for 
that  matter  in  the  whole  of  France,  where  fort  after 
fort  was  reduced,  and  both  the  armies  of  General 
Chanzay  and  Bourbakie  were  badly  beaten  by  the 
armies  of  the  Red  Prince  and  General  Manteuffel.  I 
could  plainly  see  that  the  beginning  of  the  end  was 
nigh  at  hand,  and  that  my  usefulness  in  front  of  the 
besieged  city  would  soon  be  over.  I  therefore  decided, 
before  quitting,  to  make  another  tour  around  Paris. 

MY  LAST  TOUR  AROUND  PARIS 

Having  disposed  of  my  horse  "Sedan,"  on  account 
of  its  too  slow  gait,  I  engaged  a  French  chaise  with 
two  good  horses,  to  take  me  around  the  city.  I  calcu- 
lated that  it  would  take  me  about  a  week  to  accomplish 
this.  That  is,  provided  that  no  unexpected  obstacles 
would  interfere.  We  took  the  road  towards  Saint  Ger- 
main; arrived  there,  we  drove  up  to  the  headquarters 
of  the  Platz  commandant  to  have  our  papers  vised. 
This  new  order  had  been  introduced  because  of  the 
many  spies  that  had  been  apprehended.  I  often  won- 
dered how  the  news  from  Versailles  to  Paris,  and  from 
Paris  to  all  parts  of  the  country,  was  spread  so  rapidly. 
A  French  gentleman,  in  confidence,  enlightened  me 
on  the  subject.  He  said  that  the  French  vegetable 
vendors  made  the  best  news  carriers  in  the  world; 
they  were  freely  admitted  with  their  wares  within  the 
German  as  well  as  within  the  French  lines,  and  thus, 
imparted  their  observations,  which  were  often  quite 
acute,  to  their  countrymen. 


194  REMINISCENCES 

While  tarrying  at  Saint  Germain  and  waiting  for 
my  papers  to  be  examined,  I  beheld  one  of  the  most 
pathetic  sights  of  this  war.  There  were  scores  of 
French  women  and  children,  with  a  small  sprinkling 
of  old  men,  congregated  before  the  Platz  command- 
ant's headquarters,  begging  for  something  to  eat.  The 
supplicants,  it  must  be  remembered,  were  not  profes- 
sional beggars,  but  peasant  women  and  children  resid- 
ing around  Paris,  and  who  during  the  last  three 
months  were  despoiled  of  everything  in  the  shape  of 
food  for  man  and  beast  they  had  by  the  roving  Uhlans 
and  Dragoons,  who  were  sent  out  to  requisition  sup- 
plies for  the  besieging  army.  It  is  such  an  aftermath 
that  makes  all  wars  repugnant  to  right  thinking  people. 

After  having  received  my  papers  we  drove  through 
the  extensive  forest  of  St.  Germain,  where  we  met 
many  German  officers  hunting  for  deer,  the  woods 
having  been  full  of  them.  We  soon  reached  Argen- 
teuil,  which  is  about  seven  to  eight  miles  northwest 
from  Paris.  On  our  way  we  passed  the  Chateau  La 
Fitte  of  champagne  celebrity.  We  hurriedly  went 
through  the  chateau  and  admired  many  of  its  paint- 
ings hanging  on  the  walls  undisturbed,  as  they  were 
left  by  their  owners.  By  a  strange  coincidence  there 
was  a  painting  of  "Wilhelmshohe,"  where  the  Man  of 
Destiny  was  sent  as  a  prisoner  of  war  after  the  sur- 
render at  Sedan. 

MONTMORENCY    AND    ENGHIEN 

After  having  left  Argenteuil,  which  by  the  way 
furnishes  Paris  with  the  finest  celery  in  the  market, 
we  reached  Montmorency,  which  is  about  twelve  miles 


HAKD    TO    FIND   LODGINGS  195 

southwest  from  Paris,  and  intending  to  stop  there  over 
nighty  \.e  went  to  the  only  hotel  in  town,  called  "Hotel 
au  cheval  Blanc."  We  could  not,  however,  be  accom- 
modateds  as  it  was  overcrowded  with  soldiers  and 
officers.  The  history  of  this  hotel  and  its  sign  is  quite 
romantic.  It  boasts  of  having  given  shelter  to  more 
crowned  heads,  princes,  poets,  authors  and  other  dis- 
tinguished men  in  art  and  literature  than  any  hotel 
in  Christendom.  It  was  built  in  1737  by  Leduc ;  some 
years  after  its  erection  a  company  of  bo n  vivants  com- 
posed of  artists,  authors  and  poets,  visited  Mont- 
morency  (which  was  also  known  as  Enghien)  in  order 
to  enjoy  its  bracing  atmosphere,  where,  as  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Montmorency  boastfully  said,  cholera  while 
ravaging  the  whole  country  never  entered  within  its 
limits.  The  visitors  tarried  there  for  several  weeks 
enjoying  the  best  the  hotel  had  in  food  and  wines, 
and  when  at  last  the  day  of  settlement  came  they 
could  not  scrape  together  enough  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  even  one  single  member  of  the  party.  They  finally 
compromised  the  matter  by  having  a  member  of  this 
gay  company,  who  was  a  celebrated  artist,  paint  the 
sign  of  the  hotel,  which  he  did,  and  which  was  con- 
sidered the  chef  d'oeuvre  among  all  hotel  signs. 

HARD  TO   FIND   LODGINGS 

The  town  of  Montmorency  was  so  overcrowded 
with  soldiers  and  officers  that  we  could  find  no  place 
to  shelter  us  for  the  night.  I  at  last  accosted  a  young 
German  officer  and  asked  him  to  lead  us  to  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Platz  commandant,  which  he  did.  We 
found  the  commandant,  Major  von  Fuchs  of  the  Nine- 


196  EEMINISCENCES 

ty-third  Regiment  of  Anhalt  Dessau,  a  very  genial 
gentleman,  who  sent  us  to  a  large  squarely  built  stone 
house,  where  we  found  a  place  to  sleep  on  some  hay 
scattered  on  the  floor.  The  first  floor  of  this  house 
was  used  as  the  company's  butcher  shop,  and  the  Erare 
grand  piano  that  stood  in  one  corner  as  the  butcher's 
block,  on  which  the  meat  was  cut  up.  There  we  spent 
the  night,  but  as  to  sleep,  that  was  out  of  the  question, 
as  the  continuous  firing  on  the  picket  line  prevented 
our  doing  so. 

AN   ELEGANT  SUPPER 

Our  young  officer  who  led  us  to  the  commandant 
was  a  young  baronet  and  every  inch  a  gentleman,  for 
seeing  that  we  would  be  unable  to  find  a  place  where 
we  could  get  our  supper,  he  invited  us  to  sup  with 
him.  It  was  a  most  remarkable  supper  to  have  in  the 
field  and  only  a  few  miles  from  the  enemy.  It  con- 
sisted of  the  choicest  kinds  of  delicacies  that  money 
could  procure.  The  most  satisfying  dish  to  me,  how- 
ever, was  the  Erbsenwurst  Suppe  (pea  sausage  soup). 
It  is  made  of  dried  mashed  peas  mixed  with  hashed 
pork.  To  the  inventor  of  this  palatable  dish  is  due 
almost  as  much  credit  for  the  victories  achieved  by 
the  German  armies  as  to  Dreise,  the  inventor  of  the 
Prussian  needle  gun. 

Our  host,  the  young  officer,  sent  for  a  non-commis- 
sioned officer  of  his  regiment  who,  after  supper,  enter- 
tained us  late  into  the  night  with  playing  classical 
selections  of  music  on  the  Erare  grand  piano. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  Montmorency,  Generals 
Schwartzhoff  and  Tillintsky  had  their  headquarters 


DUCEOT'S  AEMY  BROKEN  UP  197 

there.  This  was  the  same  Tillintsky  who,  as  colonel 
of  the  Twenty-seventh  regiment,  carried  by  storm  the 
woods  occupied  by  the  Austrians  at  Koeniggratz  in 
1866.  I  further  learned  from  my  young  officer  that 
Major  von  Fuchs  was  the  only  field  officer  of  his  regi- 
ment left  unhurt  after  the  sortie  by  the  French,  Sep- 
tember 30th  last. 

After  a  brief  visit  to  the  "Hermitage,"  once  the 
residence  of  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau,  we  descended  the 
hill  into  the  famous  valley  of  Montmorency,  and  vis- 
ited the  baths  at  Enghien  les  Bains.  Here  was  the 
chateau  of  Princess  Mathilde,  cousin  of  Emperor  Na- 
poleon III.  This  chateau  once  belonged  to  the  Prince 
of  Conde,  whom  the  first  Napoleon  had  apprehended 
on  neutral  territory,  had  him  brought  to  France  and 
beheaded  on  the  very  night  of  his  arrival.  This  treach- 
erous act  added  an  additional  indellible  stain  on  Napo- 
leon Bonaparte's  escutcheon. 

From  Enghien  les  Bains  we  drove  as  far  as  the 
Saint  Denis  railroad,  where  we  were  halted  by  the 
German  outposts.  Further  progress  was  denied  us 
because  of  the  extensive  preparations  that  were  made 
for  the  bombardment  of  Paris  all  along  the  line.  There 
was  nothing  left  for  us  to  do  but  to  retrace  our  steps 
towards  Versailles,  where  we  arrived  after  an  absence 
of  four  days,  and  after  having  covered  about  seventy- 
five  miles. 

DUCROT'S  ARMY  BROKEN  UP 

After  our  return  to  Versailles  we  learned  that  dur- 
ing the  last  sortie  Ducrot's  army  was  badly  broken  up. 
It  was  evident  that  France  was  no  longer  the  country 


198  REMINISCENCES 

that  produced  a  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  a  Massena,  a 
Moreau  and  a  Hoche  under  the  First  Republic,  and  a 
Nye,  a  Soult,  a  Murat,  a  Davoust,  a  Kellerman  and  a 
Lannes  under  the  First  Empire.  The  trouble  with 
the  French  army  during  the  Second  Empire  was  the 
lack  of  confidence  of  the  rank  and  file  in  the  officers, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  grade.  The  French 
soldier  was  not  devoid  of  physical  courage;  what  he 
lacked  was  moral  courage,  and  that  can  be  acquired 
only  by  the  high  standard  of  the  morale  of  its  officers. 
The  corrupt  influences  of  the  Second  Empire  had  a 
blighting  effect  upon  the  morale  of  the  French  army 
officers.  The  French  arms,  both  large  and  small,  were 
fully  as  good  as  those  of  the  Germans ;  the  Chassepot 
as  good  as  the  needle  gun;  while  Victor  de  Reppy's 
mitrailleuse  was,  as  a  rapid  firing  instrument,  superior 
to  anything  the  German  army  had. 

THE   RECLOTHING    OF   THE    GERMAN    ARMY 

Winter  having  come  upon  Paris  and  its  surround- 
ings earlier  in  1870  than  usual,  the  troops  began  to 
shiver  in  their  bedraggled  clothing,  in  which  they  had 
fought  so  many  battles.  The  whole  army  surrounding 
Paris  was  reclothed  from  head  to  foot,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  gloves.  I  never  could  find  out  the  reason  why 
they  were  not  furnished  with  gloves  as  well  as  with 
other  articles  of  clothing. 

HUNTING    FOR    FRANCTIRREURS 

Even  during  the  quietest  days  of  the  siege  there 
never  was  any  lack  of  some  excitement  or  other  in 
Versailles.  During  the  last  half  of  December  spies 


CROWN  OFFERED  TO  KING  WILLIAM  199 

were  reported  to  be  loitering  within  the  German  lines. 
A  house  to  house  search  was  ordered  to  be  made. 
One  evening  while  I  was  engaged  in  writing  in  my 
room,  the  daughter  of  my  landlady  burst  into  the  room 
and  all  out  of  breath  informed  me  that  the  Prussian 
soldiers  were  searching  the  house.  I  immediately 
opened  the  door  of  my  room,  when  I  was  confronted 
by  a  squad  of  soldiers  under  the  command  of  a  ser- 
geant, who  informed  me  in  French  that  they  were 
searching  for  Franctirreurs,  who  were  reported  as  be- 
ing secreted  in  the  houses  of  the  city,  whereupon  I 
politely  invited  him,  in  German,  to  enter  and  make  the 
search.  He  at  once  apologized:  "Ach,  entschuldi- 
gen;  sie  sind  ja  ein  Landsman"  (Oh,  excuse  me;  you 
are  a  compatriot).  And  with  this  they  left  the  house, 
to  the  great  relief  of  my  landlady  and  her  daughter. 

THE  IMPERIAL  CROWN   OFFERED  TO   KING  WILLIAM 

A  deputation  from  the  German  Reichsrath  came  to 
Versailles  during  the  latter  part  of  December  to  offer 
to  King  William  the  imperial  crown  of  United  Ger- 
many. That  King  William  was  to  be  the  logical  em- 
peror of  Germany  was,  of  course,  well  known  and 
decided  upon  soon  after  the  victories  won  at  Gravelot 
and  Sedan.  I  predicted  it  in  one  of  my  letters  to  the 
"Tribune"  weeks  before  the  arrival  of  the  deputation 
sent  by  the  Reichsrath.  The  deputation  consisted  of 
thirty-two  members,  who  were  selected  from  the  vari- 
ous political  parties  of  that  time.  Nearly  all  were 
lodged  at  the  Hotel  Reservoir,  whence  after  luncheon 
they  were  driven  in  carriages  and  yellow  painted  mail 
wagons  to  the  Prefecture,  where  the  King  lodged. 


200  REMINISCENCES 

Arrived  there,  they  marched  up  to  the  building,  led  by 
the  venerable  Herr  Simon,  the  president  of  the  Reichs- 
rath,  and  who  already  in  1848  was  one  of  those  who 
offered  to  King  William  the  imperial  crown  of  Ger- 
many. Herr  Simon  had  for  his  walking  companion 
Count  von  Moltke,  Prince  Ludwig,  the  casus  belli  of 
the  Franco-Prussian  war,  was  also  there,  as  was  Baron 
Rothschild,  the  uncle  of  Alfonso,  in  whose  palace  at 
Ferrieres  the  King  had  his  headquarters.  Only  one  cor- 
respondent was  invited  to  attend  the  ceremony,  and 
that  was  the  artist  and  correspondent  of  the  London 
Illustrated  News,  who  was  to  sketch  this  historical 
scene. 

As  a  result  of  this  mission,  King  William  was  pro- 
claimed Emperor  of  Germany  of  the  19th  of  January, 
1871,  in  the  beautiful  salle  des  glaces  of  Versailles. 
On  that  very  day  the  French  made  another  unsuccess- 
ful sortie  from  Fort  Mont  Valerian.  They  evidently 
had  an  inkling  of  what  was  going  on  and  attempted  to 
prevent  the  desecration  of  the  historical  palace  of  Ver- 
sailles by  the  crowning  ceremonies  of  a  German  em- 
peror. 

CELEBRATING    CHRISTMAS 

The  most  anomalous  spectacle  I  witnessed  during 
my  temporary  residence  at  Versailles  were  the  Christ- 
mas services  held  in  the  various  churches  during  the 
Christmas  holidays.  The  church  of  the  "Notre  Dame" 
was  appropriated  by  the  Catholic  soldiers  from  Ba- 
varia, Saxony  and  Posen,  or  Prussian  Poland.  Ger- 
man and  French  priests  alternated  in  reading  mass. 
Very  few  Frenchmen  attended  these  services,  while 


OX    JAXUAUY     18TII.     1S71,     WILLIAM     I.     OUAXDFATIIER     OF     THE     PRESENT 
KAISKU,     WAS     PROCLAIMED     (JERMAX     EMl'EKOH     AT     VERSAILLES 


SIEGE   GUNS   IN   POSITION 

the  women  and  children  who  did  attend,  I  fear,  did 
not  harbor  the  feelings  of  brotherly  love  towards  the 
intruders,  as  commanded  by  Him  whose  nativity  they 
were  celebrating.  "May  heaven  listen  to  their  prayers 
for  the  restoration  of  good  will  and  peace,"  was  the 
fervent  prayer  of  a  Protestant  clergyman  in  a  Protest- 
ant church,  where  the  German  soldiers  professing  the 
faith  of  Luther  and  Calvin  were  attending  divine  serv- 
ices. The  Christmas  festivities  lasted  two  days.  Tens 
of  thousands  of  Liebesgaben  (Christmas  gifts)  which 
were  brought  from  the  Vaterland  between  the  15th  of 
October  and  the  15th  of  November  (the  time  specified 
by  the  German  mail  department  as  the  limit  for  their 
transportation  to  the  army  in  the  field)  caused  good 
cheer  among  the  troops.  The  English  and  American 
war  correspondents  also  celebrated  the  occasion  by  a 
dinner  to  the  fraternity  and  their  invited  guests.  A 
large  number  of  "Iron  CrosS  medals  were  distributed, 
so  that  in  spite  of  the  surrounding  evidences  of  war, 
the  nativity  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  was  celebrated  be- 
fore Paris  with  good  cheer. 

SIEGE    GUNS    IN    POSITION 

The  Christmas  festivities  did  not  in  the  least  inter- 
fere with  the  placing  of  the  guns  in  position  around 
the  doomed  city.  Letters  which  were  found  in  a  cap- 
tured balloon  spoke  of  the  sad  condition  in  which  the 
Parisians  found  themselves.  It  was  for  most  of  them  a 
sad  Christmas,  when  neither  meat  nor  vegetables 
could  be  had  for  either  love  or  money.  The  letters 
spoke  of  how  the  starving  populace  were  ravenously 
devouring  dogs  and  rats  to  still  their  hunger.  It  was 


202  BEMINISCENCES 

further  reported  that  the  municipal  authorities  had 
decided  to  sell  at  auction  the  animals  of  the  Jardin  des 
Plants;  also  that  Mr.  Washburn,  the  American  am- 
bassador, was  furnishing  passports  to  numerous  Eng- 
lishmen and  Americans  who  wished  to  leave  the  city 
before  the  bombardment  began. 

Lieutenant  Colonel  von  Verdy,  of  Moltke's  staff, 
and  the  historian  of  the  war,  was  sent  to  Paris  under 
a  flag  of  truce  to  demand  the  surrender  of  the  city, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  inform  them  indirectly  of  the 
total  defeat  of  the  army  of  the  Loire  at  Orleans.  He 
was  further  to  invite  officers  of  the  French  garrison 
to  come  within  the  German  lines  and  see  for  them- 
selves the  uselessness  of  their  further  resistance. 

THE  BOMBARDMENT  OF   PARIS 

Von  Verdy's  mission  having  failed  the  King's  pa- 
tience was  exhausted  and  he  gave  the  command  to 
start  in  and  reduce  the  recalcitrant  city  by  force. 
Forts  Mont  Valerian  and  d'Issy  were  the  first  to  be 
attacked.  They  were  the  most  formidable  of  all  the 
forts  around  Paris,  for  once  they  were  reduced,  the 
others,  as  well  as  the  walls,  with  their  92  bastions, 
would  crumble  to  pieces  as  if  made  of  cardboard.  It 
did  not  take  long  to  reduce  Fort  d'Issy,  but  fort  Mont 
Valerian,  which  the  gamins  of  Paris  in  derision  nick- 
named "Pere  Grimeaud,"  belched  forth  its  90  and  180 
pound  missiles  in  reply  to  the  50  pound  shells  of  the 
Spandau  Riesen  moerser  (Giant  mortars).  The  con- 
test continued  with  unabated  vigor  for  several  days, 
when  the  German  shells  began  to  drop  around  the  Arc 
de  Triomph,  and  threatened  the  demolition  of  the 


PEACE    PEELIMINAEIES  203 

Statue  of  "Resistance"  that  crowns  the  top  of  the  Arc. 
The  defense  became  less  spirited,  and  by  the  14th  of 
January,  after  the  fort  had  greatly  suffered  and  its 
cassemates  were  riddled  with  shot  and  shell,  the  garri- 
ons  of  the  fort  made  a  last  desparate  effort  to  break 
through  the  German  lines,  but  they  were  mercilessly 
mowed  down  by  the  German  battallions  and  their 
matchless  artillery.  The  game  was  up.  The  seething 
passions  of  the  proletariat  against  the  bourgeoise 
showed  themselves  in  the  sundry  riots  which  the  Garde 
Nationale  (whose  task  it  was  to  preserve  the  peace  of 
the  city)  had  great  difficulty  in  repressing.  The  news 
of  the  defeat  of  the  army  in  the  south  had  been  con- 
firmed by  dispatches  received  from  their  own  generals. 
There  was  nothing  left  but  to  bow  to  the  inevitable, 
so  that  on  the  28th  of  January  an  armistice  was  signed 
by  the  contestants,  containing  the  provision  that  the 
regulars  and  mobiles  were  to  be  kept  as  prisoners  of 
war,  while  the  German  troops  would  take  possession 
of  and  occupy  all  the  forts  around  Paris;  meanwhile 
the  city  would  be  permitted  to  be  revictualized. 

PEACE    PRELIMINARIES 

On  the  27th  of  January,  1871,  Emperor  William 
telegraphed  to  Empress  Augusta  the  following: 
"With  a  deeply  moved  heart,  in  gratitude  to  God,  I  in- 
form you  that  the  preliminaries  have  been  signed ;  the 
Bordeau  assembly  must  yet  ratify  them.  (Signed) 
Wilhelm." 

Twenty  days  later  the  drama  of  the  Franco-Prus- 
sian war,  having  been  closed,  was  replaced  by  the 
tragedy  of  the  Paris  Commune,  the  disgrace  not  of 


204  REMINISCENCES 

France  alone,  but  of  the  age  and  the  civilization  of 
which  the  ages  boast. 

END  OF  THE  SIEGE 

My  duties  as  special  correspondent  of  the  Chicago 
"Tribune"  at  the  Siege  of  Paris  having  ended,  I  made 
preparations  to  quit  Versailles  and  France  without 
entering  Paris.  Although  I  had  various  reasons  for 
not  entering  Paris  with  the  victorious  army,  my  chief 
reason  was  that  I  did  not  care  to  be  a  witness  to  the 
great  humiliation  of  the  misled  French  people.  I  had 
seen  Paris  in  all  its  splendor  and  grandeur  only  the 
year  before,  and  seeing  it  after  the  capitulation  would 
have  only  caused  me  pain,  for  I  knew  from  the  des- 
criptions which  I  read  that  the  city  resembled  more 
a  dead  than  a  live  community. 

SOCIAL  LIFE  IN   VERSAILLES 

One  cannot  well  judge  of  the  social  life  of  any  city 
while  it  is  under  the  occupation  of  an  enemy;  but  as 
far  as  I  could  observe,  social  life  in  Versailles  during 
peaceful  and  normal  times  must  have  been  of  the  high- 
est order.  I  should  here  remark  that  Versailles  was 
the  only  city  west  of  Rheims  where  there  was  not  a 
general  exodus  of  its  people  at  the  approach  of  the 
Germans.  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  hail  from  a 
country  whose  traditional  amity  and  good  will  was 
well  known  to  the  French  people,  so  I  was  far  from 
being  shunned  by  the  Versaillese.  On  the  contrary 
I  was  invited  to  many  of  the  social  functions  of  the 
literati  of  the  city,  although  I  could,  on  account  of  my 
duties  as  correspondent,  accept  but  few. 


WAR    CORRESPONDENTS  205 

While  attending  some  of  these  social  functions,  I 
had  to  exercise  the  greatest  caution  in  what  I  said, 
for  as  soon  as  they  learned  the.!:  I  was  an  American 
newspaper  correspondent,  they  came  to  me  with  all 
manner  of  complaints  against  the  invaders. 

I  recall  one  occasion  when  I  was  attending  a  literary 
soiree  given  by  the  Maire  ofthe  city,  and  where  I  met 
a  certain  authoress,  Madame  Adele  Honman,  who 
came  to  me  saying:  "Oh,  Monsieur,  La  belle  France 
will  remain  la  grand  nation,  even  if  she  should  go 
down  in  defeat  as  Greece  and  Carthage  did,"  to  which 
I  replied:  "Ah  Madame,  La  belle  France  will  be 
remembered  as  a  grand  nation,  the  same  as  Greece  and 
Carthage  are  remembered." 

WAR   CORRESPONDENTS  AT  THE  SIEGE  OF  PARIS 

When  I  first  readied  Versailles,  in  September,  1870, 
there  were  but  few  correspondents  with  the  third  army 
before  Paris.  As  the  siege  progressed  their  number 
increased.  The  British  press  was  well  represented 
by  Captain  Walker,  the  military  attache  to  the  British 
Embassy  in  Berlin,  Captain  Hosier,  the  military  corre- 
spondent of  the  London  "Times;"  Dr.  Russell,  with  a 
lot  of  horses,  secretaries  and  lackeys,  also  of  the  Lon- 
don "Times ;"  Sir  Henry  Havelock,  nephew  of  the 
Havelock  of  Lucknow  fame.  All  of  these  correspond- 
ents made  themselves  disliked  by  the  French  on 
account  of  their  unreasonable  exactions ;  none  of  them, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  Sir  Henry  Havelock, 
ever  thought  of  paying  for  anything  they  got  in  the 
shape  of  forage  or  food  while  on  their  tours  around 


206  REMINISCENCES 

Paris.    Often  I  had  Frenchmen  ask  me  whether  Great 
Britain  was  at  war  with  France. 

Of  German  correspondents,  special  mention  must 
be  made  of  Dr.  Kaysler,  the  Berlin  general  correspond- 
ent of  the  Associated  Press;  Hans  Blum,  of  the 
"Daheim,"  an  illustrated  periodical  published  at  Leip- 
zig. The  last  two  gentlemen  I  often  met  at  the  home 
of  Dr.  Bush,  the  secretary  of  Prince  Bismarck.  Dr. 
Kaysler  was  the  correspondent  who,  getting  weary  of 
waiting  for  the  taking  of  Paris,  left  for  the  South  of 
France  early  in  December  to  join  the  army  of  Von 
der  Tann.  He  urged  me  to  go  with  him,  but  as  I  was 
sent  to  report  the  siege  of  Paris,  I  did  not  feel  justi- 
fied in  exchanging  my  post.  For  a  long  time  he  was 
lost  sight  of,  until  his  wife  received  a  letter  from  him 
from  Pau,  in  the  Department  of  the  Basse  Pyrene, 
where  he  was  detained  as  a  prisoner  of  war.  The 
correspondents  of  the  German  press  did  not  enjoy 
as  much  latitude  in  reporting  passing  events  as  the 
English  or  American.  The  correspondent  of  a  Cologne 
paper  committed  suicide  in  Versailles  for  being  repri- 
manded by  the  German  War  Office. 

My  descriptions  of  the  correspondents  before  Paris 
would  be  incomplete,  were  I  not  to  refer  to  the 
comic  incident  I  witnessed  on  December  19th.  While 
standing  before  the  Hauptquartier  of  the  Platz  Com- 
mandant, I  noticed  a  queer  procession,  composed  of 
a  half  a  dozen  civilians  under  guard,  approaching  me. 
I  at  once  recognized  the  gentlemen  as  my  fellow  cor- 
respondents of  the  British  press.  Captain  Hosier, 
who  was  one  of  them,  was  wrathy  beyond  description. 
He  swore  vengeance  for  (as  he  termed  it)  this  unheard 


BEFLECTIONS    ON   THE   SIEGE  207 

of  outrage  on  the  British  flag.  The  incident  was,  how- 
ever, soon  forgotten,  after  some  explanations  given 
by  the  officer  of  the  guard,  who  arrested  them  for 
trespassing  on  forbidden  ground. 

Captain  Johnson,  an  English  army  officer  who  passed 
through  the  German  lines  into  Paris  too  frequently, 
was  finally  warned  by  one  of  the  Generals  at  the  out- 
posts that  if  he  should  be  found  again  within  the  lines 
he  would  be  shot.  He  was  not  seen  after  that 
warning. 

REFLECTIONS  ON  THE  SIEGE 

While  the  hardships  I  underwent  before  Paris  were 
quite  onerous,  the  experiences  I  gained  were  valuable 
to  me  in  more  than  one  way.  As  I  said,  I  was  at- 
tached to  the  Headquarters  of  the  King;  my  name 
appeared  on  the  rolls  of  war  correspondents.  The 
King's  Headquarters  were  with  the  third  army  under 
his  royal  son,  Prince  Friedrich  Wilhelm.  I  found  that 
many  of  my  preconceived  ideas  and  notions  of  the  Ger- 
man soldiers  and  officers  were  faulty.  And  while  I 
admired  them  for  their  fine  and  healthy  looks,  as  well 
as  for  their  discipline,  I  could  not  withhold  my  ad- 
miration at  the  same  time  for  the  clean  and  physical 
bravery  of  the  French  regulars  and  the  mobiles.  When 
I  spoke  of  the  discipline  I  should  have  excepted  the 
Bavarians,  whose  discipline  was  very  slack.  They  had 
no  commissary  department  worthy  of  the  name ;  when 
they  arrived  at  a  given  place  they  generally  scattered 
in  small  squads  in  the  villages  nearest  their  encamp- 
ments ;  they  soon  returned  loaded  with  provisions  and 
wine,  which  were  then  distributed  in  the  camp.  When 


208  REMINISCENCES 

the  Bavarian  was  billeted  on  a  Frenchman,  he  not  be- 
ing able  to  speak  the  vernacular,  would  take  out  his 
watch  and  point  out  the  figures,  9,  12,  3  and  6,  repeat- 
ing the  words  which  he  had  learnt:  "Id  dejeuner," 
"id  diner,"  "id  souper"  and  "id  boire."  (Here  break- 
fast, here  dinner,  here  supper  and  here  drinking.) 
Nevertheless,  all  these  things  were  done  with  such 
good  humor  that  the  host  could  not  get  angry  at  him ; 
then  besides,  they  were  coreligionists  and  Catholics, 
which  in  France  among  the  peasantry  covers  a  multi- 
tude of  sins.  Still,  after  all  that  can  be  said  and  writ- 
ten against  the  harshness  and  rigorous  treatment  of 
the  French  by  their  German  invaders,  one  must  not 
forget  that  war  is  not  a  holiday  pastime,  and  that  the 
French  were  the  provokers  of  the  war.  While  I  have 
seen  men  condemned  to  the  gibbet  for  firing  from  their 
houses  on  the  retreating  German  army  at  Bougival, 
I  have  also  witnessed  crowds  of  French  old  men  and 
women  fed  by  the  German  commissary  department  at 
Saint  Germain.  Those  French  refugees  reminded  me 
of  Roger's  clay  statuettes  of  "Union  refugees"  which 
were  the  rage  during  our  Civil  War. 

AN  APPEAL  TO  CHICAGO 

Before  leaving  Versailles  for  home,  an  appeal  for  aid 
was  addressed  to  me  by  the  council  of  the  city,  counter- 
signed by  the  Maire  and  the  Prefect  Bosely,  with  the 
request  to  have  me  send  it  to  my  home  city,  which 
request  I  cheerfully  complied  with. 

HOMEWARD  BOUND 

Leaving  Versailles  early  in  the  spring,  I  visited 
Strassburg,  the  city  which  I  expected  to  find  badly 


KEIEGSEINZUG  209 

damaged,  but  which  I  found,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  holes  through  its  famous  cathedral  and  some 
other  buildings,  but  little  damaged.  I  next  visited  Ber- 
lin and  Hamburg,  and  after  a  voyage  of  nearly  two 
weeks  reached  New  York  and  Chicago.  Taking  pas- 
sage on  a  German  liner,  we  had  to  go  north  of  the 
Shetland  Islands  for  fear  of  meeting  some  French 
cruisers  who  had  not  yet  received  the  news  of  the  end- 
ing of  the  war. 

I  arrived  in  Chicago  in  time  to  witness  the  great 
German  celebration  over  the  re-establishment  of 
peace. 

I  stopped  but  a  short  time  at  horn  3,  when  I  re-em- 
barked on  a  steamer  for  Glasgow,  Scotland,  and 
reached  Berlin  soon  after.  This  time  I  had  my  family, 
consisting  of  my  wife,  son  and  daughter,  with  me. 

KRIEGSEINZUG 

I  managed  to  be  in  Berlin  during  the  Kriegseinsug 
or  the  "triumphal  entry  of  the  German  veterans"  of 
the  Franco-Prussian  war,  and  the  unveiling  of  the 
statute  of  King  Friedrich  Wilhelm  of  Prussia,  all  of 
which  took  place  June  18,  1871.  The  crowd  had  been 
gathering  for  two  weeks  previous  to  that  date,  from 
all  parts  of  Germany.  The  weather  was  ideal.  The 
streets  on  the  line  of  march  were  gaily  decorated,  and 
there  were  many  triumphal  arches  erected  on  the  pub- 
lic squares.  There  were  also  many  stands  along  Unter 
den  Linden  and  other  streets,  which  were  on  the  line 
of  march  erected  for  the  accommodation  of  the  vast 
throngs.  There  were  about  two  thousand  captured 
cannon  planted  on  both  sides  of  the  streets  where  the 


210  KEMINISCENCES 

procession  took  place.  At  the  head  of  the  procession 
were  carried  the  captured  French  eagles  and  standards. 
Large  trophies  were  built  of  the  numerous  French 
firearms  and  swords. 

After  the  first  division  of  the  victorious  column  had 
passed  the  Brandeburg  gate,  the  Emperor  with  his 
train  of  German  crownheads  and  princes  were  received 
by  a  deputation  of  Berlin's  municipal  government; 
also  by  deputations  from  other  cities  in  Germany. 
Presently,  when  the  Emperor  at  the  head  of  his  bril- 
liant cortege  rode  down  the  Via  Triumphalis  which 
had  been  constructed  in  honor  of  the  occasion,  his 
path  was  covered  with  flowers  which  hundreds  of  girls 
dressed  in  white,  had  strewn.  The  procession  of  war- 
riors now  entered  the  gate  with  the  Prussian  guards 
leading.  Every  regiment  that  took  part  in  the  war 
was  represented  by  a  detachement  with  the  regimental 
colors.  It  took  several  hours  for  the  procession  to 
pass  the  point  from  which  I,  with  my  family,  watched 
it  passing.  By  special  permission  from  the  sentinel 
guarding  the  cannon  in  front  of  it,  I  was  allowed  to 
place  my  children  on  the  top  of  one  of  the  cannons, 
whence  to  watch  the  pageant. 

At  the  close  of  the  procession  the  Emperor  pro- 
ceeded to  unveil  the  statute  of  Friedrich  Wilhelm.  He 
was  assisted  in  that  ceremony  by  nearly  all  the  rul- 
ing princes,  Generals  and  members  of  the  Reicherath, 
Empress  Augusta  being  present  with  her  ladies  in 
waiting,  seated  in  the  Imperial  carriage,  while  Crown 
Princess  Victoria,  with  her  children,  seated  in  another 
royal  carriage,  also  graced  the  occasion. 

After  the  firing  of  the  salute  had  ceased,  the  Em- 


KRIEGSEINZUG  211 

peror  dismounted,  and  standing  at  the  base  of  the 
statue,  delivered  himself  of  •  the  following:  "This 
monument,  which  was  projected  in  time  of  peace,  now 
becomes  a  memorial  of  one  of  the  most  brilliant, 
though  bloodiest,  of  modern  wars.  May  the  peace  so 
dearly  achieved  be  a  lasting  one." 

The  day's  ceremonies  ended  with  the  conferring  of 
honors  on  the  victorious  commanders.  Numerous 
orders  of  merit  were  granted  by  the  Emperor.  Heredi- 
tary commands  of  the  most  distinguished  regiments 
were  given  to  various  generals.  Among  the  most 
highly  honored  ones  were  George,  the  Crown  Prince 
of  Saxony,  Prince  Leopold  of  Bavaria,  and  General 
von  Roon,  who  was  created  hereditary  Count  of  the 
German  Empire.  Count  von  Moltke  was  made  Field 
Marshal  of  the  Imperial  Army,  while  Count  von  Bis- 
marck gained  the  title  of  Prince  of  the  Empire. 

Thus  ended  the  triumphal  entry  of  the  victorious 
army  into  Berlin.  But  at  what  cost?  The  cost  in  blood 
and  money  is  too  stupendous  even  to  contemplate.  Only 
the  silent  mourners  of  the  dead  and  maimed  of  both 
nations  can  tell  of  the  pangs  endured  during,  and 
long  after,  the  struggle.  In  view  of  the  present  politi- 
cal conditions  of  the  conquered  territories,  the  con- 
quest was  but  a  hollow  mockery.  The  time  has  gone 
by  when  territories  and  states  may  be  bartered  away 
without  the  consent  of  its  people.  The  three  millard 
francs,  an  amount  three  times  as  much  as  Germany 
could  raise  as  revenue  in  one  year  during  those  days 
did  not  enrich  her,  nor  impoverish  France.  Both 
countries  have  fully  recovered  financially,  and  not  a 
vestige  remains  of  that  struggle.  France,  if  anything, 


212  EEMINISCENCES 

shows  the  greater  material  prosperity  than  does  Ger- 
many. Had  Napoleon  listened  to  the  advice  given 
him  by  his  consort,  the  Empress  Eugenie,  he  might 
not  have  died  in  exile,  and  France  would  have  been 
spared  the  disgrace  of  defeat.  Her  advice  to  Napoleon 
as  it  has  been  told  me  by  some  of  the  best  informed 
men  of  that  time,  was:  "To  keep  his  promises  with 
the  nation,"  for,  as  she  said :  "I  do  not  love  the  use  of 
force,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  it  is  impossible  to  make 
two  coups  d'etats  during  the  same  government." 

From  Berlin  I  took  my  family  to  Marienbad,  where 
I  spent  about  three  weeks,  and  where  I  renewed  my 
acquaintance  with  Dr.  Lucca,  who  attended  me  while 
I  was  there  in  1869,  taking  the  baths.  This  Dr.  Lucca 
was  the  uncle  of  the  celebrated  prima  donna,  Paulina 
Lucca,  who  was  often  heard  both  in  New  York  and 
Chicago. 

From  Marienbad  we  went  direct  to  Vienna,  where 
we  took  apartments,  expecting  to  spend  the  winter  in 
the  imperial  city,  but  as  the  German  saying  has  it: 
"Der  Mensch  denkt  und  Gott  lehkt."  (Man  pro- 
poseth  but  God  disposeth.)  The  great  Chicago  fire, 
which  occurred  October  8th  and  9th,  1871,  to  a  great 
extent  modified  my  previously  adopted  plans. 

Very  soon  after  the  Chicago  catastrophe  our  family 
circle  was  increased  by  the  arrival  of  a  Chicago  young 
lady,  Miss  Rosalie  Magnusson,  who  came  to  Vienna  to 
finish  her  musical  education.  I  introduced  her  to  Mr. 
Anton  Rubinstein,  the  great  pianist,  who  then  lived  at 
Vienna,  who  recommended  her  to  one  of  the  best 
teachers  on  the  piano,  then  residing  at  Vienna,  Prof. 
Anton  Dorr. 


MUSICAL  PEBFOBMANCE  213 

MUSICAL   PERFORMANCE   IN    AID   OF    CHICAGO   FIRE 
SUFFERERS 

In  November  19th,  1871,  I  attended  a  musical  and 
dramatic  performance  given  by  the  various  artists 
of  the  Vienna  Opera  House  and  the  theatres  of 
Vienna  in  aid  of  the  Chicago  fire  sufferers  at  the  Carl 
Theatre.  The  result  of  the  performance  was  sent  by 
Miss  Minnie  Hauck  in  the  shape  of  about  four  thous- 
and florins  to  the  Chicago  Aid  and  Relief  Society. 
The  whole  thing  was  engineered  and  carried  out  by 
this  young  girl,  who  worked  day  and  night  in  making 
the  performance  an  artistic  and  financial  success. 

During  the  spring  of  1872  I  visited  Buda-Pest  on 
some  business,  and  while  there  I  had  the  honor  of 
representing  Mr.  I.  S.  Kauser,  our  Vice  Consul  at  that 
city,  in  receiving  Mr.  Wm.  H.  Seward  and  party  on 
their  homeward  journey  from  the  far  east.  The  party 
consisted  of  Mr.  Seward,  his  adopted  daughter,  Miss 
Olive  Risley  Seward,  and  her  sister.  Mr.  Seward's 
stay  at  Buda-Pest  lasted  but  one  day. 

Returning  to  Vienna,  I  obtained  a  passport  for 
Russia  from  our  Minister,  John  Jay,  and  armed  with 
this,  I  left  for  Southern  Russia,  visiting  Berdischef, 
Gitomir,  Odessa  and  Singury.  At  the  latter  place  I 
stopped  about  a  week  with  my  Russian  friend,  Capt. 
Michailowsky,  a  retired  officer  of  the  Imperial  Guard, 
who  some  years  before  had  paid  me  a  visit  in  Chicago. 

This  having  been  my  first  visit  to  Russia,  I  was 
quite  anxious  to  look  into  the  characteristics  of  the 
people,  who  in  their  ignorance  helped  to  forge  their 


214  REMINISCENCES 

own  chains,  while  in  1848  and  1849  they  aided  Austria 
to  overthrow  Hungarian  independence. 

Although  I  was  the  possessor  of  a  passport,  issued 
to  me  by  our  American  Ambassador  Mr.  John  Jay  at 
Vienna,  I  was  under  constant  surveillance  and  espion- 
age. This  espionage  extended  into  the  local  Post 
office  at  Syngury,  where,  while  I  attempted  to  buy 
some  stamps  for  letters  to  the  United  States,  I  was 
asked  what  information  that  letter  contained.  This 
Russian  espionage  extended  not  only  to  the  principal 
but  to  all  who  are  seen  in  his  company  day  or  night. 

My  chief  object  aside  from  paying  a  visit  to  my 
Russian  friend  Capt  Michailowsky,  was  to  establish  an 
agency  at  Odessa  for  the  sale  of  the  Marsh  harvester, 
manufactured  by  the  Marsh  and  Stewart  Harvester 
Company  at  Piano,  Ills.  Unfortunately  my  friend, 
the  Captain,  was  made  the  agent  for  all  of  Russia,  I 
say  unfortunately,  it  was  so  for  him,  for  very  soon 
after,  he  was  sent  off  by  the  Government  to  Theo- 
dosia  in  Trancaucasia,  into  a  quasi  exile,  where  he 
soon  died  of  a  broken  heart. 

Of  course  things  have  changed  for  the  better  since 
~  1872 ;  the  universal  civilizing  light  that  has  spread  all 
over  the  world  during  the  last  fifty  years  has  done  its 
work  also  in  the  land  of  Tolstoi. 

While  I  visited  several  cities  in  southern  Russia, 
I  found  Odessa,  the  so  called  "Russian  Florence,"  the 
most  interesting;  its  commercial  activity  reminded  me 
so  much  of  our  Chicago,  except  that  Odessa  has  two 
harbors,  while  Chicago  with  its  two  and  one  half  mil- 
lion inhabitants  has  none.  It  has  splendid  drives 


FOUETH  OF  JULY  CELEBKATION        315 

along  the  sea  shore  and  boasts  of  a  splendid  monu- 
ment erected  to  its  founder,  Duke  Richelieu. 

From  Russia  I  returned  to  Vienna,  where  great 
preparations  were  being  made  for  the  Vienna  World's 
Fair.  Through  my  friend  General  P.  S.  Post,  our 
Consul  General  at  Vienna,  I  obtained  from  Baron 
Schwartz  Senborn,  Director  General  of  the  fair,  a 
concession  to  erect  an  American  Bar  and  Restaurant. 

FOURTH  OF  JULY   CELEBRATION    IN   VIENNA 

The  national  holiday,  the  4th  of  July,  1872,  was 
fitly  celebrated  as  it  should  be  by  a  lineal  descendant 
of  the  patriot  whose  name  he  worthily  bore,  John 
Jay.  Nearly  all  the  Ambassadors  and  Ministers  of 
foreign  nations  were  present.  Patriotic  speeches  were 
made  by  Mr.  Jay  and  Gen.  Post,  our  Consul  General, 
while  I  had  the  honor  of  responding  to  the  toast  of 
"The  Enlightened  Press." 

After  having  obtained  the  concession  above  re- 
ferred to,  I  returned  to  Chicago  and  went  to  work  to 
purchase  everything  that  should  make  the  enterprise  a 
credit  to  the  United  States,  as  well  as  a  financial  suc- 
cess. Returning  to  Vienna,  after  having  made  extensive 
purchases  in  Chicago,  New  York,  London  and  Paris,  I 
arrived  February  25th,  1873.  I  soon  went  to  work, 
and  in  spite  of  all  obstacles  that  were  laid  in  my  way 
by  the  inefficiency  of  our  World's  Fair  Commissioner, 
who  all  along  had  fought  my  concession,  I  was  the 
only  one  that  had  his  place  open  for  business  on  the 
first  day  of  May,  the  day  the  Fair  opened. 

The  venture,  however,  proved  a  disastrous  one,  for 
instead  of  making  anything  I  lost  considerable  money ; 


216  BEMINISCENCES 

but  after  all,  I  had  gained  many  friends  among  for- 
eigners as  well  as  among  Americans  who  visited  my 
restaurant.  The  main  reason  for  the  financial  failure 
of  nearly  all  undertakings  in  that  Fair  was  the  scare  of 
the  cholera  which  prevailed  then  in  Austria,  and  also 
the  general  trade  depressions  prevailing  all  over  the 
continent  and  also  in  the  United  States. 

While  my  venture  was  not  a  financial  success  owing 
to  adverse  conditions,  I  still  carry  in  my  memory  the 
good  which  my  letters  to  the  Chicago  Tribune  did  on 
paving  the  way  of  exporting  manufactured  machinery 
and  more  especially  harvesting  machinery,  such  as 
the  McCormick,  the  Champion  and  the  Marsh  har- 
vesters. 

After  the  close  of  the  Fair  I  returned  to  Chicago, 
where  soon  after  my  arrival  I  picked  up  the  thread 
of  my  commercial  life  on  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade, 
which  I  had  joined  several  years  before  I  took  my 
first  trip  to  my  native  country  in  1869. 

Since  1873,  my  life  on  the  Board  of  Trade  had  its 
ups  and  downs,  the  perusal  of  which  would  not  in- 
terest my  readers.  Whatever  might  be  of  interest 
relating  to  my  individual  life  and  doings  is  largely 
incorporated  in  the  several  articles  which  I  have 
written,  entitled,  "The  Chicago  Board  of  Trade — Its 
uses  and  abuses,"  and  published  in  the  American  "Eleva- 
tor and  Grain  Trade"  during  1910  and  1911. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

ii  nil  n 


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